Integrative systems mapping can help reveal interacting dynamics of parental opioid use and children’s health and well-being, potentially identifying leverage points where interventions may be effective to break negative reinforcing cycles of use and harm.
A paper on how to use an integrative system map was recently published by researchers at the Georgia Health Policy Center in Frontiers in Psychology.
While many of the negative impacts of opioids on mothers and their children are known (e.g., neonatal abstinence syndrome) there are numerous interrelated pathways through which parental opioid use can impact a child’s health and well-being.
To better understand these dynamic relationships, researchers used a systems mapping approach (based both on a literature review and expert input) to visualize complex patterns and interactions between pathways and potential leverage points for interventions. These interconnected pathways highlight the relationships between opioid use and:
- parenting
- social determinants of health at the family and population levels
- family strengths
- social supports
- adverse impacts on children’s physical and mental health.
A causal loop diagram draws attention to distinct ways in which opioid use can negatively affect and decrease the quality of both parenting and child well-being.
For instance,
- Increased opioid misuse by a parent or caregiver can decrease the quality of parenting (e.g., lack of attachment, unstable relationship).
- Decreases in the quality of parenting can decrease child health and well-being (e.g., nonoptimal brain development).
- Declines in child health and well-being can decrease parenting capabilities (e.g., parental stress and financial difficulties).
“Developing a systems map allows researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to identify potential leverage points in the system where interventions may be effective in supporting a positive relationship or in modifying more adverse relationships,” explains lead author Jessica Smith, Ph.D. “For example, identifying parents at risk for substance misuse and providing parenting skills training and support as part of their treatment may be an effective way to change the relationship between parental opioid use disorder and the consequential effects on child well-being.”
Coauthors include Leigh Alderman, Brandon K. Attell, Wendy Avila Rodriguez, Jana Covington, Brigitte Manteuffel, Ann M. DiGirolamo, Susan M. Snyder, and Karen Minyard.
Read the full paper here.