Among reproductive-age people in the United States, drug overdose remains the most frequent cause of death. As such, the rate of substance use disorders and related sequelae in pregnancy is rising. Despite an evidence base supporting behavioral health and medication treatment to prevent relapse, overdose, and other adverse pregnancy outcomes, meaningful barriers remain that prevent people with substance use disorder (SUD) in pregnancy from accessing the care they need. Dr. Marian Jarlenski and her team employs a reproductive autonomy lens to studying real-world data to understand access to and quality of opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment and pregnancy outcomes, and conducting an implementation-effectiveness trial of a provider-level intervention to improve OUD treatment in pregnancy and subsequent outcomes. Findings from our research provide high-quality evidence about how healthcare policies and systems may lessen the considerable health burden of OUD among pregnant people.
Funding:
5R01DA049759-02 - Project STEPuP: A prenatal provider education and training program to improve medication-assisted treatment use during pregnancy and maternal and child health outcomes
5R01DA045675-04 - Availability, accessibility, and structure of opioid use disorder treatment and maternal and child health outcomes