# EleVATE-Clinicians: a tool to mitigate implicit bias by increasing clinicians' empathy

> **NIH NIH R21** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $217,298

## Abstract

Abstract
Group prenatal care is one of few interventions proven to improve pregnancy outcomes for Black women, but
the mechanism is unknown. We propose to leverage an R01-funded trial of 330 pregnant patients randomized
to individual prenatal care or Elevating Voices, Addressing Depression, Toxic Stress and Equity in Group
Prenatal Care, called EleVATE-Patients. The focus of EleVATE-Patients is whether the intervention improves
perinatal depression and pregnancy outcomes. The EleVATE-Clinicians study, proposed here, moves the
focal point from patients to their clinicians. Clinicians facilitating EleVATE groups receive training in trauma-
informed care, anti-oppressive principles, dismantling racism, and group dynamics. We will measure whether
patients seeing clinicians with high empathy scores (by validated self- and patient-report) will be less likely to
experience perinatal depression, preterm birth, low birthweight (Aim 1), and whether participating in EleVATE
GC training and facilitating group prenatal care is associated with increased clinician empathy (Aim 2). We
hypothesize that the 20+ hours that clinicians spend providing group care allows them to longitudinally apply
lessons learned from anti-racism training, develop closer patient relationships, respect patients' intersectional
identities, and strengthens their ability to provide high-quality care for socially dissimilar patients. We
hypothesize that increasing empathy in this way mitigates the impact of implicit bias and contributes to
improved patient outcomes. The data from this R21 will be used to plan a multi-site trial powered to further test
this hypothesis and determine whether participation in EleVATE facilitates greater clinician advocacy for
changes to dismantle structural racism in healthcare.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10538910
- **Project number:** 1R21MD017933-01
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Ebony Boyce Carter
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $217,298
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-23 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10538910

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10538910, EleVATE-Clinicians: a tool to mitigate implicit bias by increasing clinicians' empathy (1R21MD017933-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10538910. Licensed CC0.

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