Safe Mothers in Texas
Safe Mothers in Texas is a program to educate providers of substance use disorder (SUD) treatment on intimate partner violence (IPV) and address the intersections of IPV and SUD during the pregnancy and postpartum period for women in Texas. The association between IPV and SUD is well documented. Pregnant and post-partum women are at heightened risk for victimization. Best practices are limited for providers of care in the intersections of SUD, IPV, and to provide care and necessary resources. To address this gap and improve maternal and child outcomes, the Texas A&M Health Center of Excellence in Forensic Nursing at Texas A&M University aims to lead a consortium of stakeholders from across the State to develop and pilot Safe Mothers in Texas.
The pilot project is funded through a grant from the U.S. Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health, Office of Women’s Health. The grant is designed to bring together SUD providers and maternal health stakeholders with those working to prevent violence against women. Expected outcomes include:
- Incentivize SUD providers treating pregnant and postpartum women to be trained on identifying and addressing IPV;
- Train SUD providers to address IPV with patients and train IPV staff on SUD;
- Identify, utilize, and disseminate best practices for care intersecting IPV and SUD in pregnant women;
- Integrate IPV and SUD protocols into medical practice;
- Integrate perinatal and postpartum programs into existing substance use programs; and
- Implement process and outcomes evaluation to demonstrate whether there was an improvement in IPV-SUD health outcomes in the pregnant and postpartum periods.
Project Team
Stacey Mitchell, DNP, MBA, MEd, RN, AFN-C, IVSE-C, SANE-A, SANE-P, DF-AFN, FAAN
Jodie C. Gary, PhD, RN
Robin L. Page, PhD, APRN, CNM, FACNM, FAAN
Heather Clark, DrPH, MSPH
Aimee Bajoie, MEd
Kevin Zaragoza, MA
Brenda Gonzales
Dinorah Martinez
Scott Horel
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This project is supported by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Office on Women’s Health as part of award #ASTWH220122, totaling $1,799,000 with zero percentage financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the authors and do no necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by OASH, OWH or the U.S. Government.