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Interventions that build upon the natural components of early mother-infant interactions are critical to reversing the sequelae of maternal substance abuse and breaking the cycle of addiction. This paper proposes a theoretical model that blends infant massage (IM) into a planned parenting enhancement program (PEP) to promote improved health outcomes in recovering substance- abusing mothers (SAMs) and their babies. With 4.6 million women of child-bearing age regularly using cocaine in the united States and 750,000 drug-exposed births annually, maternal substance abuse highlights the multigenerational impact of drug use in high-risk populations and its risks to our children. The proposed IMPEP model provides a means to assist recovering SAMs in making cognitive-behavioral changes through new knowledge about parenting and parenting skills, with a special focus on infant stimulation via massage. The goal is to enable recovering SAMs to become confident and responsive mothers, empowering them to become effective parents. Pilot data suggest the Infant Massage Parenting Enhancement Program (IMPEP) is effective for both mother and infant, and merits a controlled systematic study.
This paper proposes a model for an innovative intervention program for high-risk mothers, i.e., infant massage (IM) blended into a systematically planned Parenting Enhancement Program (PEP), otherwise known as IMPEP. Infant massage (IM) has been shown to have significant therapeutic effects and developmental benefits on high-risk neonates in in-patient settings. However, studies have yet to address its utility in low-cost outpatient programs for recovering substance abusing mothers (SAMs) for its impact on the mothers or their children. Thus, in addition to this novel intervention, we also highlight past studies done on the PEP and several pilot studies on the IMPEP.
Literature Review
Substance-abusing mothers are a special population on the rise. In the united States, an estimated 1.1 million women of childbearing age regularly used cocaine in 1985. This number burgeoned to 4.6 million by 1992, with more than 300,000 drug-exposed births annually. In 1994, over 33% of young mothers on welfare abused alcohol or drugs, and by 1995, the number of drug-exposed births had more than doubled to nearly 750,000. In 2000, 45% of the female population abused alcohol, approximately 26% smoked cigarettes, and 13% abused illicit drugs or prescribed medications (D'Apolito & Hepworth, 2001; Substance Abuse Mental Health Administration [SAMHSA], 1999;...