OVAL will examine how laws governing drug use during pregnancy influence overdose risk, access to prenatal and postnatal care, and engagement in substance-use treatment among pregnant and postpartum women. Insights from this work will guide intervention efforts aimed at mitigating harms and strengthening potential benefits for impacted communities.
Key objectives
- To understand whether and how laws governing drug use in pregnancy are implemented in communities
- To understand how the implementation of these laws (e.g., waiting list duration among pregnant women for substance use disorder treatment programs) is related to overdoses, prenatal/postnatal care, and treatment rates
- Drawing on these findings, partner with communities to develop, and engage in, strategies to either mitigate these laws’ harms or strengthen their benefits
Team
We have brought together a talented, multidisciplinary team to carry out this work.Our team is inclusive of, but not limited to:
- Whitney Rice – Principal Investigator
- Doug Livingston - Principal Investigator
- Hannah Cooper - Principal Investigator
- Stephanie Beane – Senior Biostatistician
- Cyen Peterkin – Biostatistician
- Janet Cummings – Co-investigator
- Angela Meinhofer – Co-investigator
- Carl Henriksen – Medicaid Consultant
