This study addresses prenatal cannabis use, a pressing and timely public health concern in the United States, through an innovative, community-engaged intervention aimed at reducing its rising prevalence and improving maternal and infant health outcomes. The project proposes a qualitative investigation to identify individual- and system-level barriers and facilitators to adopting evidence-based approaches to manage stress, anxiety, pain, and nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP), and reduce the reliance on cannabis use for symptom management. In addition, the study will develop and deliver training to community health professionals on an up-to-date evidence-based cannabis toolkit that promotes the use of harm reduction strategies and medically-supported approaches to managing stress, anxiety, pain, and NVP. This educational module and professional development will be utilized in a pilot intervention that will be integrated in a widely available program, the Maternal Infant Health Program (MIHP), which serves Medicaid-eligible pregnant individuals in Michigan.
Through partnership with community-based MIHP providers, the intervention will provide additional supportive prenatal care services and individualized counseling to Michigan pregnant individuals who use cannabis with the goal of reducing their reliance on cannabis for symptom management.
This grant was made possible through the foundational support from the ACORN funding, which enabled the successful collaboration between Drs. Omayma Alshaarawy and Al-Sahab. It laid the groundwork by exploring the perceptions and engagement of pregnant individuals who use cannabis, in prenatal care, research opportunities, and interventional studies.
