January 2018

Happy New Year from the ATTC CoE-PPW! We are grateful for all of your contributions to the PPW field in 2017 and look forward to all that we can accomplish in 2018!

The ATTC Center of Excellence on Behavioral Health for Pregnant and Postpartum Women and Their Families (ATTC CoE-PPW) publishes Families In Focus, an e-newsletter for PPW programs. This contains updates on the work of the ATTC CoE-PPW, including new resources, training offerings, opportunities to connect with other PPW programs, and more. Visit www.attcppwtools.org to learn more about the ATTC CoE-PPW.

Is Your Program Father-Friendly? Review These Resources to Find Out and Explore Ways to Improve Father Engagement

Engaging fathers in pregnant/postpartum women's (PPW) substance use disorder (SUD) treatment is an important part of a family-centered care approach. Many resources exist to explain the rationale of including fathers, help programs assess their father-friendliness, and provide strategies for building programming for fathers. Here are a selection of resources, including those produced by the ATTC CoE-PPW:

• Training Curriculum | Module 3, Building Programs for Fathers and Partners, Easier Together: Partnering with Families to Make Recovery Possible: The goal of this training module, designed for in-person delivery, is to help programs begin to meet expectations for programming that addresses the needs of fathers/male partners and co-parents. It explains why engaging fathers is important; the evidence base for involving fathers, male co-parents, and male partners; and lists considerations and cautions when developing programming. Downloadable PowerPoint slides are available. In addition, the trainer and participant manuals contain a number of supplemental readings and resources.
  
• Assessment Tool | Father-Friendliness Organizational Self-Assessment and Planning Tool: This self-assessment package, developed for Head Start and other family service programs, provides tools for organizations to assess their readiness to provide services to fathers and father figures.
  
• Video | Services for Fathers/Partners: This video, part of the Bring Them All documentary, describes how SHIELDS for Families involves fathers in treatment.
  

 For more information on fathers, visit the ATTC CoE-PPW Resource Library and search resources by the fathers/partners topic area.

NEW TOOLS | NIDA Resources for Opioids, Pregnancy, and Neonatal Care

RESEARCH UPDATE | PPW and Families in the Literature

• Substance Use, Treatment, and Demographic Characteristics of Pregnant Women Entering Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder Differ by United States Census Region: While the rates of opioid use disorder (OUD) among pregnant women increased across the United States between 1992 and 2012, the southern states experienced the greatest increases. Using 2013 Treatment Episodes Database-Admissions data for women with OUD who were pregnant at the time of admission, this study compared treatment characteristics and demographics among U.S. census regions with the South census region as the reference group. Compared to the South, pregnant women admitted for OUD treatment in other regions were 33-79% less likely to use benzodiazepines, twice as likely to receive medications for addiction treatment (MAT), 2-3 times more likely to use heroin, and up to 1.5 times more likely to inject drugs. Fewer women in the South reported having medical insurance, education beyond high school, and being married. Authors indicate the need in the southern U.S. for policies and treatment programs to target reducing concurrent opioid and benzodiazepine use; increasing access to, and utilization of, MAT; and increasing access to medical insurance.
• Characteristics of Pregnant Women Who Reported Alcohol Use at Admission to Substance Use Treatment: This study examined the sociodemographic, treatment, and other characteristics of pregnant women who reported alcohol use and were admitted to treatment for the first time. Authors conducted a cross-sectional study using the Treatment Episode Data Set-Admission (TEDS-A) between 1992-2012. Among pregnant women admitted to treatment for the first time, 43.1% (N = 166,863) reported alcohol use. Of those women, 50% (36,003/71,960) reported alcohol as their primary substance, with half (18,057/36,003) reporting other substance use and half reporting alcohol use only (17,946/36,003). Pregnant women reporting alcohol use only were more likely to be aged 40 or older, non-Hispanic white, more educated, employed, married, and referred by the justice system to outpatient treatment, as compared to those reporting alcohol and other substance use and those reporting other primary substances. Among pregnant women who used alcohol and other substances, marijuana was the most popular co-used substance.
• Recovery Support Mediates the Relationship Between Parental Warmth and Quality of Life among Women with Substance Use Disorders: Using an attachment-informed stress-buffering framework, the purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of parental warmth (early experiences with primary caregivers) and recovery support to quality of life (QoL) among women in substance use disorder treatment. Using a sample of 317 women recruited from 3 inner-city women’s treatment programs, the study examined direct and mediated associations of parental warmth and recovery support on physical, psychological, and social QoL domains. The study found that, when controlling for influence of trauma symptoms, greater parental warmth and recovery support were positively associated with greater psychological and social QoL, but not physical QoL. Additionally, recovery support mediated the relationship between parental warmth and psychological and social QoL. Given this, interventions that help women identify and utilize recovery supports may help reduce the impact of negative early bonding experiences on social and psychological QoL.

Families in Focus is a publication of the ATTC CoE-PPW. The mission of the ATTC CoE-PPW is to strengthen the ability of the behavioral healthcare workforce to serve pregnant and postpartum women and their families. The ATTC CoE-PPW was funded by SAMHSA as a supplement to the Mid-America ATTC, which currently supports its operations. Click here to unsubscribe from this newsletter.