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Updated: Oct 12, 2025

Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants
Published on: June 13, 2021
Contextual risk and psychosocial profiles of opioid-using mothers: A mixed-methods study
Karina Beltrán-Arzate1, Kevin Hodson1, Haley K Tes1
1Department of Child and Family Studies, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville, TN, USA.
Introduction:
There is an increase in cases of mothers using opioids during pregnancy in the United States but research investigating mothers' psychosocial environments along with individual variability among this high-risk group of women is scarce.
Methods:
This mixed-methods study aims to examine the complex interplay of contextual risks and experiences of opioid-using mothers. A sample of 50 opioid-using biological mothers of infants diagnosed with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) were studied using a set of standardized and open-ended questions, along with medical records extraction.
Results:
A high-risk subgroup of 36 mothers was identified using cluster analysis, characterized by a distinct profile of psychosocial risk. Thematic content analysis revealed four themes: (1) barriers to communication and mistrust of health professionals, (2) limitations of access to health care and the amplification of disadvantages related to COVID-19, (3) lifelong consequences of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and (4) intimate partner violence and its influence on drug use.
Conclusion:
Our findings highlight important information toward health services provision for opioid-using women of childbearing age. Efforts to reduce opioid usage in mothers need to consider psychosocial and contextual risks.
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