Barriers to seeking and accessing appropriate care for pregnant and postpartum women with SUD include internalized or self-stigma, gender-based discrimination, lack of provider awareness or training, and gender-specific medical problems due to the confluence of drug use patterns and risk behaviors in women that are different from those of drug-using men.
Full Answer
What are the barriers to addiction treatment for pregnant women?
A significant barrier to treatment for pregnant women is caregiver attitudes. Pregnant women who abuse substances are the mostly likely group to be stigmatized and Ideas and Research You Can Use: VISTAS 2015 4 treated punitively for their addiction-related behavior. Often, pregnant women will not
How can we reduce barriers to substance abuse treatment for women?
already harsh standards to which these women are held and upon which they are often judged unfairly. To lessen these barriers, providers must evaluate their own biases and gaps in awareness and training and then take strong stands as advocates and supporters in order to assist clients in deriving the greatest benefit from substance abuse treatment.
How do pregnant women manage the risk of being identified as substance-using?
To manage the risk and uncertainty of being identified as a substance-using pregnant woman, women in this study adopted various strategies. Some strategies seemed pro-social and pro-health, like being honest with medical practitioners or seeking out treatment.
Should primary treatment providers secure prenatal care for substance abuse patients?
The primary treatment provider must secure prenatal care if a pregnant woman is not already receiving such care. Notably, collaboration among providers of substance abuse treatment, obstetric care, and pediatric care is a necessity.
What are the unique needs of pregnant women with substance use disorders?
What are the unique needs of pregnant women with substance use disorders? Using drugs, alcohol, or tobacco during pregnancy exposes not just the woman but also her developing fetus to the substance and can have potentially deleterious and even long-term effects on exposed children.
What are some barriers to avoiding drugs?
These barriers may include:A complicated system of care to treat SUDs. ... Lack of interagency coordination and communication. ... Limited resources and personnel. ... Lack of mental health services. ... Insufficient capacity in hospitals to treat SUDs. ... Transportation barriers. ... Homelessness and substandard housing.More items...
What are the negative influences of drugs during pregnancy?
Illicit Drugs Illicit drug use during pregnancy may cause miscarriage, preterm labor, birth defects, stillbirth, withdrawal symptoms in the baby after birth, a higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), poor fetal growth rate, and cognitive and behavioral problems.
What strategies are used to prevent substance use and abuse?
What are the Basic Prevention Strategies?Information Dissemination. ... Prevention Education. ... Alternatives. ... Problem Identification and Referral. ... Community-Based Process. ... Environmental Approach.
What are the barriers for a person seeking treatment?
Barriers to help-seeking can include difficulties in accessing support, concerns about confidentiality and trust, a preference for informal sources of help, and stigma.
What barriers can you identify that could interfere with successful treatment for a person with a substance use disorder?
Barriers to Substance Abuse TreatmentTreatment Cost.Perceived Absence of Problem.Stigma.Time Conflict.Poor Treatment Availability.
Which factors increase risk during pregnancy?
High blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, epilepsy, thyroid disease, heart or blood disorders, poorly controlled asthma, and infections can increase pregnancy risks. Pregnancy complications.
What are the effects of drug abuse?
Seizures, stroke, mental confusion and brain damage. Lung disease. Problems with memory, attention and decision-making, which make daily living more difficult. Global effects of drugs on the body, such as breast development in men and increases in body temperature, which can lead to other health problems.
What are the effects of smoking and drinking during pregnancy?
Women who are pregnant, trying to conceive or breastfeeding should avoid smoking, drinking alcohol or taking illegal drugs....It has been linked to a variety of health problems, including:premature birth.low birth weight.miscarriage and cot death.breathing problems and wheezing in the first six months of life.
What are the protective factors that could reduce the risk of experiencing alcohol abuse?
Protective factorsparental supervision and communication. ... participation in supervised leisure activities. ... social and emotional competence. ... sense of belonging/connectedness to community, school and family. ... participation in positive activities with adult engagement.
How can nurses help patients with substance abuse?
In addition to clinical treatment, nurses can also help by educating patients on pain medication and alternatives for pain management including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen as alternatives to opioids.
What are two practical strategies that could be implemented by the community to ensure that the anti substance abuse campaigns are effective?
Two practical strategies for community to ensure anti substance campaign are mass awareness and provide financial support.
Abstract
The intent of this article is to identify and explore barriers to treatment for women who are pregnant and are currently using or at-risk for using alcohol and other drugs. The focus is on the internal and external barriers women face and staff attitudes towards treating this population.
References (22)
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
What are the reasons for avoiding treatment?
Decades of research supports common themes for avoiding treatment: cost, denial, stigma, work and lack of awareness or knowledge. Psychological characteristics, lifestyles and environmental factors all contribute to the excuses.
Why are people reluctant to seek treatment for substance abuse?
People may be reluctant to seek addiction treatment because of high treatment costs and low accessibility, denial of their substance use disorder, societal stigma and time constraints. The vast majority of people who need treatment for substance use disorders do not seek it.
Why do people with substance use disorders fear judgement?
People with substance use disorders fear the judgment of society, friends and loved ones because addiction has become stigmatized. A 2014 Johns Hopkins study found Americans are more likely to have negative opinions of people with substance use disorders than other mental illnesses.
What is the most common response to substance use disorder?
“I don’t have a problem” might be the most common response people with substance use disorders give for not attending rehab. The other might be “I can quit on my own.”
Does insurance cover substance use disorders?
In the past, insurance plans didn’t have to cover treatment for substance use disorders. However, the Affordable Care Act now requires insurance plans to cover mental health disorders, including substance use disorders. The system isn’t perfect, though.
Is the demand for drug rehab growing faster than the industry?
Unfortunately, the demand for treatment is growing faster than the rehab industry . In rural areas, individuals with substance use disorders must often travel great distances to find a drug and alcohol rehab facility. In urban areas, many facilities have long waiting lists.
Strengths
- Is important to note that pregnant women who use drugs or alcohol are often highly motivated to access services and that they do so despite many barriers and complicating factors. Motivation often comes from concern for the health of their baby. Like most parents-to-be, they desperately want their baby to be healthy and well. For some, becoming pre...
Fears Around Custody of The Baby
- Running through all the literature, and throughout the One-Stop team’s work, is the fear that social services or a partner or parent will take custody of the baby. Whilst this can motivate some women to access services, it can also have the opposite effect. Whether it is pregnancy services that know you use drugs, or addiction treatment services that know you are pregnant, or an A&E …
Stigma
- There is, Anna says, “a toxic mixture of guilt and shame, which can be exacerbated by a local authority emphasis on the baby”.Whilst this is understandable, as safeguarding is the local authority’s key focus, the woman at the centre of it all can end up feeling dehumanised and undeserving. The focus of specialist treatment centres – such as the one-stop-clinic – is on the …
Opioid Substitution Therapy
- Most stigma is based on a lack of knowledge and understanding: “Issues can arise when working in a multi-disciplinary team. For example, a social worker may suggest – with the best intention – that a woman reduces her prescribed methadone too quickly in the postnatal period, as they see it as the woman is still ‘on drugs’. Our role is to educate, inform and share the evidence that reduci…
Community Services
- Outside of NHS services, Anna is full of praise for the outreach services that work without stigma to get the best outcomes for women: “Community services do an absolutely brilliant job… because they already are non-judgemental and help women to engage. They are often instrumental in getting pregnant women and people in to see us as soon as possible. I would say to get them in …
Guidelines
- There are NICE guidelinesfor pregnant women with complex social factors; this includes women who use drugs, who are young, who experience domestic abuse and who are migrants or asylum seekers. Many women will experience several of these issues and will therefore need more intensive, personalised and specialist support. At the centre of the guidelines is the importance …
Commissioning
- When it comes to providing the best services, this often comes back to commissioning. Local authorities need to provide, pay for and commission specialist services to help pregnant women who use drugs. And this is not always a priority: by Rob Calder The opinions expressed in this post reflect the views of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positio…