Evidence-Based Practice Proposal - Section F: Evaluation of Process In 500-750 words, develop an evaluation plan to be included in your final evidence-based practice project. Provide the following c

Running head: The Effects of Substance Abuse From Infancy to Adulthood

Does Lack of Prenatal and/or Medical Care with Expectant Mothers Increase or Contribute to Developmental, Physiological, Biological and Mental Impairments from Infancy to Childhood and Possibly Adulthood?

Introduction

Drug addiction is becoming an issue that threatens young mothers and their unborn children. Many drug addicts tend to avoid attending prenatal care due to the fear of detection at healthcare facilities. That implies that many of them continue to use addictive and harmful drugs without close monitoring from a physician. Prescription drugs are also addictive and detrimental to the baby. Prenatal care is supposed to help those with drug addiction to protect their children from potential dangers. Mothers that fail to attend antenatal care place their unborn children at risk of effects that can potentially last to adulthood. The Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) or the infant withdrawal symptom is the first visible impact that drugs have on the unborn child. Further symptoms emerge in later years if the issue is not resolved.

Subjects

To provide evidence-based research the population used in the research had to be the expectant mothers with substance abuse disorders. Some of the evidence-based research utilized childbearing age females from adolescents to adulthood who are at risk or show signs of substance misuse or may have a mild substance use disorder (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) & Office of the Surgeon General, 2016). Research has shown a correlation between lack of health care with the use of illicit drugs to adverse problems such as poverty, mental and physical, emotional and sexual harm. Expectant mothers from community clinics and health centers where individual interviewed once pregnancy was established with viable pregnancy test (Browne et al., 2015).

Methods

The primary approach was to peruse medical databases for relevant articles on the topic. Top databases that were reviewed for relevant articles include MEDLINE, MedlinePlus, EMBASE, EBSCO and PsycINFO. The keywords for the online search engines were “Impact of the absence of prenatal care by drug abuse mother.” The articles were then selected based on their relevance to the topic and their closeness to the key search terms. It was essential to ensure that the article was peer-reviewed, and it was from a reputable journal. Another selection criterion was the publication date with the elimination of any article before the year 2016 or more than five years old. The idea was to have relevant and recent articles that cover issues that affect contemporary society.

Key Findings

Through well supported, evidence-based, scientific research shows that substance use disorders can be effectively treated. The recurrence rate would not differ from chronic illnesses. Scientific evidence shows that approved medications through the FDA can be beneficial to substance abuse disorders related to alcohol use and opioid use. Scientific research has supported that treatment for substance use disorders including inpatient, residential and outpatient is more cost effective than no treatment (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) & Office of the Surgeon General, 2016).

Limitations

There is not enough supported scientific evidence for electronic technologies such as adoption of electronic health records and the use of telehealth which could improve patient access, possible engagement, monitoring and continuation of supportive care for those with diagnosed substance use disorders. There is a lack of resourced to implement early intervention programs to address substance abuse problems with screenings to limit the use of illicit drugs while pregnant and continue interventions postpartum. There is limited treatment of substance abuse users with accompanying physical or mental disorders (Browne et al., 2015). Due to substance abuse being illegal, expectant mothers are hesitant to received health care. Mother expectant mothers have public health and criminal justice concerns. The criminal justice department continue with attempts to criminalize substance use during pregnancy the will subject expectant mothers to detection, arrest and punishment for substance abuse while pregnant (Stone, 2015).

References

Browne, T., Priester, M.A., Clone, S., Lachini, A., DeHart, D., & Hock, R. (2015). Barriers and

Facilitators to Substance Use Treatment in the Rural South: A Qualitative Study. The

Journal of Rural Health, 32(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1111/jrh.12129

Stone, R. (2015). Pregnant Women and Substance use: fear, stigma, and barriers to care. Health

& Justice, 3(2), 1-24. Doi: 10.11861s40352-015-0015-5

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) & Office of the Surgeon General. (2016).

Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and

Health (Chapter 4). Washington, DC: HHS. Retrieved from

https://www.ncbi.nlm.gov/books/NBK424859/