Supporting positive parenting among pregnant people in recovery from opioid use disorder: Introducing family check‐up–prenatal

Abstract

Opioid use disorder (OUD) among pregnant people has increased dramatically during the opioid epidemic, affecting a significant number of families with young children. Parents with OUD commonly face significant challenges as they are often balancing the stress of caring for young children with maintaining recovery and co‐occurring psychosocial challenges (e.g., mental health, low social support). Toward designing interventions to address parenting needs among parents with OUD, we conducted a mixed‐methods study to understand the acceptability of receiving parenting support prenatally among pregnant people with OUD residing in the United States. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted among 18 pregnant and early postpartum people recruited from a substance use treatment program specializing in the care of pregnant and parenting populations. Among all participants, a prenatal parenting program that comprehensively addresses recovery, parenting, and wellbeing was found to be widely acceptable. Regarding content most desirable within a parenting intervention, participants indicated an interest in breastfeeding, caring for newborns with in‐utero opioid exposure, parent‐infant bonding, infant soothing techniques, their own wellbeing/mental health, and parenting skills. We introduce a prenatal adaptation of the well‐established Family Check‐up parenting intervention as a novel, prenatal intervention to prevent negative outcomes for caregivers in recovery and their children.