Project SMILE (Supporting Maternal-Infant Love and Engagement)
Project Description:
The goal of this study is to create, deliver, and begin to assess a short-term, point-of-care parenting skills intervention during the medically necessary three-to-five-day in-hospital observation for all opioid-exposed infants at Parkview Hospital. Statistics on maternal deaths indicate this is a critical time when women need support. Half of all deaths among pregnant women and women within the first postpartum year in Colorado are the result of suicide and overdose. This newly created intervention will adapt selected modules from the research-informed and strengths-based Partners In Parenting Education (PIPE) curriculum that are most appropriate for pregnant and parenting women with OUD and their infants. PIPE empowers mothers as it supports them in understanding their infant's development, reading their cues, relating in a healthy manner, and promoting developmentally appropriate learning. This approach represents a paradigm shift in the standard care of opioid-exposed newborns where mothers are often stigmatized and excluded from being part of the solution. We propose that empowering women with OUD with skills to care more effectively for their infant (especially during withdrawal) and develop a sensitive, responsive, and dependable caregiving relationship can help contribute to their ongoing treatment and recovery and contribute to positive child outcomes. Women between the ages of 20 and 35 years of age with OUD (opioid use disorder) who deliver their infants at Parkview Hospital in Pueblo, CO, are eligible to participate. Participants will include mothers in active medication-assisted treatment and/or counseling as well as mothers who are not in treatment or counseling. Participants must speak English. Given the purpose of the study, mothers whose babies are relinquished for adoption or are discharged to foster care will not be eligible to participate.
Keyword(s):
opioid, medication assisted treatment, OUD, opioid use disorder
Core Function(s):
Continuing Education/Community Training
Area of Emphasis
Health-Related Activities
Target Audience:
Community Trainees / Short term trainees, Family Members/Caregivers
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Geographic Areas, Rural/Remote
Primary Target Audience Geographic Descriptor:
Single-County
COVID-19 Related Data:
N/A
