218520 Evidence-based models for preventing FASD among women at risk of alcohol-exposed pregnancies

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Jill Hensley, MA , SAMHSA FASD Center for Excellence, Rockville, MD
Vinitha Meyyur, PhD , SAMHSA FASD Center for Excellence, Rockville, MD
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) is an umbrella term describing the range of effects that can occur in any individual whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. Approximately 40,000 babies are born each year in the United States with FASD, and costs for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) alone are estimated at over $6 billion a year.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration's (SAMHSA) Center for Substance Abuse Prevention funded 15 evidence-based initiatives in 2008 to provide screening and intervention services to women of child-bearing age who may be at risk of alcohol-exposed pregnancies (AEP). The interventions include: Project CHOICES (4 sessions plus contraceptive counseling); Screening and Brief Intervention (SBI; 10 15-minute sessions of counseling by nonmedical professionals in a community setting); and the Parent-Child Assistance Program (P-CAP) (an intensive paraprofessional home visitation model).

Process and outcome data are being collected across a 4-year period, and include screening, service delivery, and six- and twelve-month follow-up data. Interim data at the project's mid-point (2 years) will be available (N=1,863 women across the programs to date). These data provide new findings on the impact of these programs for reducing AEP. In addition, findings will be presented on how to overcome barriers to integrating these programs into existing service systems in order to promote cost-efficient, sustainable strategies for improving health outcomes for women and children in the United States.

Learning Areas:
Administration, management, leadership
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Program planning
Provision of health care to the public
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
1. Define and explain findings, including both process and outcome improvements, from a national health initiative designed to prevent FASD through one of three prevention approaches. 2. Compare three prevention approaches for working with women at risk of AEP. 3. List and differentiate strategies for replicating one of these three approaches in other existing service systems.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to present because I oversee programs implementing a nationally funded initiative targeting the prevention of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). I am qualified to be an abstract Author on the content I am responsible for because I am the Program Manager of the funded study being presented.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4225.0: Alcohol Screening and Brief Interventions