Current and future directions for prevention of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) during the preconception period

Alcohol use among women of childbearing age continues to pose a challenge for public health. Excessive alcohol use (more than 1 drink a day or more than 3 drinks on any one occasion) in non-pregnant women is hazardous to their health and to the health of their children should women become pregnant and continue to drink alcohol. Trends in alcohol use in women of childbearing age have stayed high over the past 10 years, prompting efforts to employ innovative intervention strategies to augment current approaches. Among such strategies are screening women at risk for an alcohol-exposed pregnancy (AEP) in the preconception period in diverse health care settings; interventions designed specifically for the preconception period; new ways of delivering evidenced-based interventions to women prior to pregnancy; targeting prevention efforts at settings with high proportions of women at risk for AEP; and development of interventions that address more than one health risk behavior in women with multiple risks. This presentation will provide epidemiological data documenting drinking trends in women 18-44 years of age; discuss use of the Project CHOICES Intervention Model for use in community-level, self-guided change programs as well as individual level interventions; describe new settings for implementation of CHOICES interventions; new research addressing concurrent alcohol and tobacco use in high risk women; and recommendations from the National Task Force on FAS/FAE for reducing alcohol-exposed pregnancies now and in the future.