This year’s Annotated Bibliography of Articles Published in 2021 was just released by CanFASD and the Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health, and includes 99 articles from 21 countries.
Researchers associated with the Prevention Network Action Team (pNAT) of the Canada FASD Research Network search the academic literature for articles related to alcohol use in pregnancy and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) prevention. Articles are reviewed for relevancy, identified by topic and country, and the findings are summarized.
Countries with the highest number of articles published were the US (36 articles), Canada (17 articles), and the UK (13 articles). The findings were organized using a four-part prevention model used by the pNAT to describe the wide range of work that comprises FASD prevention. This year, 35 articles described the prevalence, influences, and factors associated with alcohol use in pregnancy, nine articles described Level 1 prevention efforts, 26 articles described Level 2 prevention efforts, 7 articles described Level 3 prevention efforts, 8 articles described Level 4 prevention articles, and 17 articles described stigma, ethical issues, and systemic approaches.
In this collection of articles can be seen an increase in attention to women’s views and experiences. For example, a systematic review of qualitative research exploring the barriers and facilitators that influence alcohol reduction, abstention, and use in pregnancy found that social norms and relationships, stigma, trauma and other stressors, alcohol information and messaging and access to trusted and equitable care and resources greatly impacted women’s alcohol use and that structural and systemic factors related to alcohol use were widely underexplored. Another article explored how women make decisions about alcohol use given the conflict information, controversy, and stigma associated with light and moderate prenatal alcohol consumption. The authors found that women’s decisions were influenced by the consistency of messaging they received, their social position relative to the source of information, and the strength of the relationship to the person providing information.
The annual literature search is intended to update those involved in FASD prevention in Canada (and beyond), so that their practice and policy work may be informed by current evidence. The members of the pNAT also have the opportunity in monthly web meetings to discuss the implications of the findings for their work.