Perceptions of Supportive Factors for Reducing Risk of Maternal Mortality Among Women With Substance Use Disorders in a Rural Setting

Objective: To describe perceptions of supportive factors for reducing the risk of maternal mortality among women with substance use disorders (SUDs) in a rural setting.

Design: Qualitative descriptive design.

Setting/local problem: Participants were recruited from a rural setting in a U.S. Midwest state where rates of maternal substance use and maternal mortality are high.

Participants: Sixteen participants were recruited from a maternal residential substance use treatment center.

Intervention/measurements: Semistructured interviews were used during which participants described their perceptions of maternal mortality and their related experiences. We analyzed the transcribed interviews using a basic inductive content analysis to yield themes and subthemes.

Results: We identified three main themes: Social Networks, Respectful Perinatal Care, and Residential Substance Use Treatment.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that nurses and other health care providers should be knowledgeable of resources to increase the social networks of women with SUD, recognize and manage the biases and judgments they may hold against women with SUD, and advocate for and refer women with SUD to residential substance use treatment.