College Honors Program

Parental Opioid Use and Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome: Combatting Socioeconomic Barriers to Treatments and Interventions

Date of Creation

5-9-2022

Document Type

Campus Access Only

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Lauren Bryant

Abstract

The opioid crisis is a widespread epidemic that currently affects many individuals in the United States. Opioid use disorder (OUD) disproportionately affects those of lower socioeconomic status (SES). A major consequence of parental opioid use and OUD is the placental passage of opioids to the fetus which may result in neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), a post-natal condition resulting from the discontinuation of prenatal opioid exposure. Infants with NAS are born with withdrawal symptoms and are at a higher risk of negative developmental outcomes, such as lower intelligence and behavioral issues, insecure parental attachment, and impaired physical development. As the opioid crisis intensifies, NAS affects an increasing number of infants across the United States and, like OUD, disproportionately affects lower SES populations. There are interventions designed to reduce the impact of NAS on parents and infants, yet SES acts as a barrier to receiving these treatments and ultimately contributes to parental opioid use and NAS. Given the findings, this thesis will address how the current NAS intervention techniques can be adjusted to be more accessible to individuals of lower SES by adopting better mental health programs, more practical prescription guidelines, and decriminalizing recreational opioid possession and use.

Comments

Reader: Gregory Burnep

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