Friends Research Institute
Presentation Abstracts
Behavioral Health Concerns Impacting Postpartum Health
Behavioral health is an essential domain of wellness that holds significant impact on postpartum health. Gaps in this domain are leading contributors to maternal mortality and offer opportunities to refine approaches to postpartum care. This workshop convenes experts who will discuss the impact of mental health, addiction, and gender-based violence on postpartum health with particular attention to social, structural, and policy factors, structural inequities, and bioethics. Research gaps including lack of experimental evidence on clinical and policy interventions and future directions will be identified.
Improving Care of Substance Use Disorders To Improve Maternal Health
Substance use, misuse, and addiction are common among women and other people capable of pregnancy. Most people who use drugs quit or cut back in pregnancy; those that continue to use likely have a use disorder. Although evidence-informed care for substance use disorders (SUD) in pregnancy has developed over the past half century, most people receive no care in pregnancy today and access to medication is inequitable across populations. State-specific policies have become increasingly punitive and will likely worsen post-Roe. Finally, misinformation about child welfare reporting and consequence is common amongst health professionals, which contributes to legitimate medical mistrust amongst pregnant people with SUD.
This presentation will contrast the principles of practice with the realities of care with attention to reproductive injustice(s) and will provide concrete suggestions to improve postpartum health.
About Dr. Terplan
Dr. Mishka Terplan is board certified in both obstetrics and gynecology and in addiction medicine. His primary clinical, research, public health, and advocacy interests lie along the intersections of reproductive and behavioral health. He is the Medical Director at Friends Research Institute and adjunct faculty at the University of California, San Francisco where he is a Substance Use Warmline Clinician for the National Clinician Consultation Center. Dr. Terplan has active grant funding and has published extensively on health inequities, discrimination, and access to treatment. He has spoken at local high schools and before the U.S. Congress and has participated in federal and international expert panels primarily on issues related to gender, reproduction, and addiction.
Dr. Terplan did not disclose any conflicts of interest for this workshop.