Poster #24 - The emotional tone of child descriptions during pregnancy among people in recovery from opioid use disorder and potential implications for postnatal parenting

• In Event: Poster Session 16

Abstract

Raising small children is recognized as a top stressor by adults. In the context of recovery from opioid use disorder (OUD), however, difficulties with parenting may be amplified by the stress of ongoing recovery and psychosocial challenges that commonly co-occur with OUD (e.g., depression, anxiety, interpersonal violence), which also impact caregiving quality. Identifying risks and intervening with potential parenting challenges before birth can facilitate the delivery of parenting interventions to support the development of healthy parenting skills and parent–child relationships. In our past work, negative descriptions of a child’s personality before they are born were associated with negative postnatal parenting behavior in a non-substance using sample with elevated sociodemographic risks (e.g., poverty, violence exposure). In the present study, we use the same methodology to 1) analyze the use of positive and negative child descriptors among pregnant people in recovery from OUD, 2) compare use of positive and negative descriptors between an OUD and a non-opioid using sample, and 3) better understand the potential parenting strengths and risks for pregnant people in recovery. Pregnant people (N=18; mean age=30.06, SD=3.33) were recruited from clinics providing medications to treat OUD within a large birthing hospital (recovery sample). Through a semi-structured interview, participants described their child’s imagined personality in up to five words or phrases. A high-risk but non-opioid using comparison sample comprised 120 pregnant women (mean age=26.16, SD=5.71) reporting high rates of economic disadvantage and intimate partner violence, but not opioid use, who completed the same prompt to describe their child’s personality. See Table 1 for demographic characteristics. Child descriptions in both samples were coded as positive, neutral, or negative by a computer program designed for sentiment analysis. The average proportion of positive descriptors (to neutral or negative) in the recovery sample was similar to the comparison sample (see Table 2); roughly half of the descriptors provided were positive. The proportion of negative descriptors (to neutral or positive) was higher in the recovery sample relative to the comparison sample. In fact, over one-third of participants in the recovery sample provided at least one negative description of their child’s personality compared to 16% in the comparison sample. Regarding potential parenting outcomes, the comparison sample was observed in a parent–child interaction procedure at 12-months postpartum which was coded for parenting behaviors (e.g., sensitivity, warmth, interference). In our past work, greater use of positive words to describe the unborn child’s personality was associated with higher sensitivity, warmth, and engagement at 12-months postpartum whereas negative descriptors were associated with higher interference and lower sensitivity during caregiver-infant observed interactions. In sum, results suggest that those in recovery may view their unborn infants more negatively than parents without OUD, even those who face other forms of adversity. For those working with pregnant individuals, the use of negative descriptions of the infant during pregnancy may serve as an indicator for referral to parenting interventions. Implications of findings for the implementation of evidence-based parenting interventions for people with substance use disorders will be discussed further in the presentation.

Authors

• Katherine Leigh Guyon-Harris, University of Pittsburgh
  Presenting Author

• Regan Carell

• Montia Brock, University of Pittsburgh

• Kathryn L. Humphreys, Vanderbilt University

• Alissa Christine Huth-Bocks, Wayne State University