Preventing Alcohol Exposed Pregnancies

Researchers at Nova Southeastern University were investigators in a major multi-center randomized clinical trial that will be published shortly in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The work, supported by grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, involved developing and testing an innovative intervention intended to prevent alcohol-exposed pregnancies (AEPs). While Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is the best known and most severe effects of prenatal alcohol consumption (occurring most often in children born to women who drink heavily throughout their pregnancy), mothers who consume smaller amounts of alcohol during their pregnancy can also give birth to children who manifest fewer and more subtle abnormalities, such as attention and memory problems, impulsivity, aggression or social problems—typically referred to as fetal alcohol effects. Such problems with AEPs are estimated to be three to four times more prevalent than FAS. Yet, the problem of preventing alcohol-exposed pregnancies is formidable. For example, half of women who become pregnant say they did not plan to become pregnant, and it takes relatively little alcohol use especially during the first trimester of a women’s pregnancy to impact the fetus. Thus, women at risk of an AEP will need to be persuaded that (1) they are at risk of becoming pregnant, (2) they are at risk of an alcohol-exposed pregnancy, and (3) to avoid an alcohol-exposed pregnancy they must stop or curtail their drinking before they become pregnant or avoid becoming pregnant.

(l-r) Dr. Mark Sobell; Grant Coordinator Burt Bolton; Dr. Linda Sobell; and Dr. Ken Johnson

The intervention was designed to reduce the risk of an alcohol-exposed pregnancy either by not becoming pregnant, by reducing their drinking below risk levels, or both. Thus, the experimental intervention was referred as the CHOICES intervention. The study found that women who received the CHOICES intervention had a two-fold reduction in their risk for an alcohol-exposed pregnancy compared to women who received an informational intervention.

The researchers involved from Nova Southeastern University, Drs. Mark and Linda Sobell from the Center for Psychological Studies and Dr. Ken Johnson of the Health Professions Division, recently began making available new services based on their clinical research funded by grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These programs are available at the Guided Self-Change (GSC) Clinic at the Center for Psychological Studies on the Nova campus in Fort Lauderdale.

The CHOICES intervention is intended to help women avoid alcohol-exposed pregnancies. The second new service, available at the GSC Clinic, is for women who are pregnant and smoking and/or drinking to help them quit and for post-partum women who have stopped smoking to help them stay quit. This evidence-based program is designed to help women help themselves. In other words, it is an empowering, motivational approach. The third new service is called Stay Quit.