MIRRORS program: Helping pregnant and postpartum women and families with substance use problems

Abstract

Background: Pregnant and postpartum women with substance use disorders are a highly vulnerable population, especially when this is compounded by homelessness or unstable housing, justice involvement, and/or co-occurring mental health challenges. The MIRRORS (Maternal Initiative for Reflective Recovery-Oriented Residential Services) program provided expanded and enhanced residential substance use disorder treatment, prevention and recovery support for women and children through integrated, trauma-informed care and services strengthened by a comprehensive and coordinated family systems approach. This paper describes the program and provides evaluation of the outcomes. Methods: Pregnant and postpartum women (n = 215) were assessed at 3 time points: intake, discharge and 6-months post-intake using standardized measures of family functioning, parenting, recovery capital, and other outcomes. Multilevel modeling was employed to examine individual differences in trends over time. Results: Over 80% of participants reported that the MIRRORS program enhanced their recovery treatment experience. Women reported significant improvements in general family functioning, problem solving, behavioral control, affective responsiveness, and communication. Participants also reported increased recovery capital and improved parental monitoring over time. Conclusions: Outcomes indicate that the MIRRORS program was effective in improving family functioning and reducing substance use, thus enhancing women’s functioning and recovery.

Keywords:

• Pregnant women
• postpartum women
• substance abuse treatment
• families
• trauma informed care

Authors’ contributions

All authors contributed to the writing of this manuscript. Dr. Bray helped design the program, conducted the evaluation of program and contributed to the writing and analyses. Ms. Scamp was the project director and helped design the program and helped write the paper. Dr. Tucker helped implement the program and write the paper. Dr. Cain and Ms. Zaring-Hinkle conducted the analyses for the paper.

Disclosure statement

The funding organization had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [1H79T1025581].