A brand new research highlights how a team-based, whole-person method to caring for pregnant individuals with substance use problems can enhance well being outcomes and help household unity. Credit score: Christine Torres Hicks / OHSU
A brand new research from Oregon Well being & Science College reveals {that a} team-based, whole-person method to caring for pregnant individuals with substance use problems holds promise in enhancing well being outcomes and serving to preserve households collectively.
The findings come from an in-depth take a look at seven organizations collaborating in Venture Nurture and its rural growth, Nurture Oregon—fashions designed to ship built-in, stigma-free care by bringing collectively medical, behavioral well being and social help professionals. The outcomes are revealed in The Annals of Household Drugs.
This care mannequin comes at a crucial time. In 2020, between 8% and 11% of pregnant girls reported utilizing illicit medicine, alcohol or tobacco—seemingly an underestimate because of self-reporting. Substance use throughout being pregnant is linked to critical well being dangers for each father or mother and toddler, together with preterm start, prolonged hospital stays and elevated involvement with baby welfare techniques. But only one in 10 pregnant individuals with substance abuse problems receives remedy, usually because of value, stigma and lack of entry—particularly in rural areas.
For Deborah Cohen, Ph.D., professor of household drugs within the OHSU Faculty of Drugs and lead writer of the research, the facility of this care mannequin grew to become particularly clear throughout a go to to a Venture Nurture web site.
“I was sitting next to a young woman who had just had a baby; she was about the same age as my daughter,” Cohen mentioned. “And I realized we talk so much about what’s good for the infant, but we’re changing the lives of two people. This young woman was in recovery, reconnecting with her family, taking care of her child and looking at college. That’s what this kind of care does—it changes lives.”
Challenges in increasing the mannequin
Researchers recognized 14 key care crew capabilities, grouped into 5 classes: medical care, behavioral well being, coordination and sources, affected person help and engagement and management for high quality enchancment. Groups sometimes included household physicians, licensed nurse midwives, social employees, dependancy counselors, peer help professionals and doulas.
“Many of these functions, such as outreach, coordination and advocacy, are invisible but essential,” Cohen mentioned. “Because this work is often unpaid or unrecognized in fee-for-service systems, it can be easy to overlook. But it’s exactly the kind of work that helps people stay engaged in care.”
The growth of Venture Nurture into rural communities by means of Nurture Oregon confronted new challenges. Whereas unique websites had robust medical partnerships, lots of the new behavioral well being and substance use remedy organizations struggled to totally combine medical care into their groups.
“Some of the behavioral health organizations found it hard to establish medical partnerships,” Cohen mentioned. “They relied more heavily on peers and doulas to support patients and help them navigate medical care elsewhere. It’s a creative workaround, but it’s not the same as having fully integrated care in one place.”
Within the research, organizations that included household physicians had been higher capable of ship the complete vary of medical providers, highlighting the significance of coaching and supporting full-scope major care clinicians.
Nonetheless, all groups delivered important providers like care coordination, emotional help and assist with social wants. These efforts made a distinction in sufferers’ lives.
Coverage implications
The research additionally highlights systemic points. Cohen emphasised that whereas built-in, whole-person care saves lives and strengthens households, it is onerous to maintain below present cost fashions.
“There’s a lot of unpaid work that primary care doctors and care teams take on —connecting the dots, coordinating care and showing up for patients,” she mentioned. “The return on investment of good primary care isn’t to the health care system—it’s to the community. And that makes it hard to fund unless policymakers and payers are visionary and willing to invest with a long-term view.”
Cohen hopes the findings will function a information for what interdisciplinary care ought to seem like, not only for individuals with substance abuse problems throughout being pregnant, however as a mannequin for major care extra broadly.
“People need to know what to expect from a good care team,” she mentioned. “And payers and policymakers need to know what to pay for. This study shows what that can and should look like, especially for people who have the most to gain from compassionate, coordinated care.”
Along with Cohen, OHSU co-authors embody: Jennifer D. Corridor, M.P.H., Maria Danna, M.A.; in addition to Camille C. Cioffi, Ph.D., with the Oregon Analysis Institute; Helen Bellanca, M.D., M.P.H., with Kaiser Permanente; and Andrea Baron, M.P.H., and Viviane Cahen, M.D.
Extra data:
Deborah J. Cohen et al, Capabilities of Interdisciplinary Major Care Groups That Assist Pregnant Folks With Substance Use Issues, The Annals of Household Drugs (2025). DOI: 10.1370/afm.250017
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Oregon Well being & Science College
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Crew-based care aids pregnant girls with substance use problems (2025, September 25)
retrieved 25 September 2025
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