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Screening pregnant young adults for alcohol and drug use: a pilot study
Kari Braaten1, Christina Briegleb, Sarah Hauke
1From the Departments of Psychiatry (KB, CB, SH, NN, GC) and Obstetrics and Gynecology (KB), Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA; and the Department of Psychiatry (GC), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Abstract:
This study ascertained the feasibility of offering a self-report alcohol and drug screen embedded in a general health habits survey to patients attending the Young Adult Reproductive Medicine Clinic and compared those who screened positive for a substance use problem with those who did not. An anonymous convenience sample of 100 young adults completed the Health Habits Survey, which included the CRAFFT screening test, designed specifically to identify substance-related problems in adolescent populations and recently recommended as a potential tool to reduce adverse outcomes from prenatal alcohol exposure. Eighty of the 100 respondents were pregnant and younger than aged 25 years, and they are the focus of the study. With a mean age of 18.2 years and 23.5 weeks gestation, most were single (75%) and had a high school education or less (75%). The majority (81%) was CRAFFT screen negative, but 15 answered yes to at least 1 CRAFFT question. There were no systematic differences between those with positive or negative CRAFFT screens. The CRAFFT, when embedded in a general health habits survey, seems to be a feasible option for pregnant young adults, but further studies to assess reliability, sensitivity, and specificity are recommended.
