As members of the largest, most trusted group of licensed health professionals in the U.S., women’s health nurse practitioners (WHNPs), certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) and perinatal nurses can play a key role in addressing alcohol and polysubstance use and preventing fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). Despite more than thirty years of research linking alcohol-exposed pregnancies with birth defects, alcohol use during pregnancy continues as a major public health problem and cause of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that clinicians screen all adults and provide behavioral counseling to those who drink beyond recommended limits. Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend pregnant women abstain from any alcohol consumption throughout pregnancy. CDC funds beginning in 2014 supported the University of Alaska Anchorage Center for Behavioral Health Research and Services (CBHRS) to establish an FASD Practice and Implementation Center, which, with continued funding in 2018, evolved to become the Women’s Health Nurses and Midwives Collaborate for Alcohol-Free Pregnancies (WHNMCAP), a collaborative workgroup that includes CBHRS, the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health (NPWH), the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), and the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM). WHNMCAP leverages the credibility of these esteemed national professional organizations to reach their combined membership of over 30,000 women’s health nursing professionals with FASD prevention resources. Over the past eight years, our nursing workgroup has influenced position statements, published articles, delivered conference presentations and webinars, and used a variety of communication methods (e.g., blog posts; social media; dedicated website) to increase the knowledge and skills of WHNPs, CNMs, and nurses, and engage them as ch
ampions for preventing FASDs. The purpose of this proposal is to expand collaboration and connections among WHNPs, CNMs and nurses with other healthcare, public health, and FASD service providers; support innovation and use of interactive media to disseminate messages, education, and resources; and expand content to include concurrent use of alcohol with other substances. We will accomplish the following project goals: 1) invite nurses to participate in a multidisciplinary FASD champions network, expanding on WHNMCAP’s current champion activities and forums, and collaborate with other grantees on new topic areas of interest; 2) develop clear, consistent evidence-based messaging for WHNPs, CNMs and nurses to deliver to patients and disseminate through national, regional, and state systems and networks; 3) leverage networks and expertise of our workgroup, champions and the public health grantees, to build linkages to local programs including information on treatment services for alcohol and substance use; 4) evaluate effectiveness of program strategies using the Reach Effectiveness Adoption Implementation Maintenance (RE-AIM) planning and evaluation framework to develop process and outcome measures that include collecting practical process data, used iteratively to tailor and refine activities (e.g., activity completion, member reach, champion participation, media hits, multidisciplinary collaborations); and outcome data, to assess targeted nurses’ knowledge, practices and training needs (e.g., surveys, champion reports, key informant interviews and focus groups); and contribute our findings to cross-site evaluation efforts; 5) work with national partners’ media experts to develop new methods for educating their members including innovative digital approaches that align with members’ preferences for accessing information; updated content integrated within continuing education and recertification modules; and new content on concurrent use of alcohol and other substance
s.