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Opioid use disorder (OUD) among pregnant people has increased dramatically during the opioid epidemic, affecting a significant number of families with young children. Parents with OUD commonly face significant challenges as they are often balancing the stress of caring for young children with maintaining recovery and co‐occurring psychosocial challenges (e.g., mental health, low social support). Toward designing interventions to address parenting needs among parents with OUD, we conducted a mixed‐methods study to understand the acceptability of receiving parenting support prenatally among pregnant people with OUD residing in the United States. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted among 18 pregnant and early postpartum people recruited from a substance use treatment program specializing in the care of pregnant and parenting populations. Among all participants, a prenatal parenting program that comprehensively addresses recovery, parenting, and wellbeing was found to be widely acceptable. Regarding content most desirable within a parenting intervention, participants indicated an interest in breastfeeding, caring for newborns with in‐utero opioid exposure, parent‐infant bonding, infant soothing techniques, their own wellbeing/mental health, and parenting skills. We introduce a prenatal adaptation of the well‐established Family Check‐up parenting intervention as a novel, prenatal intervention to prevent negative outcomes for caregivers in recovery and their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient, multidimensional instrument is needed to screen non‐optimal prenatal parental representations predictive of postnatal parenting behavior and child attachment. The present work aimed to revise and validate the Prenatal Caregiving Expectations Questionnaire—Revised (PCEQ‐R). Survey data from two independent samples of pregnant, primarily Danish, women (N = 300/322) were collected to 1) test the factor structure and select items for a 20‐item version, and 2) confirm the factor structure, examine internal consistency, and establish initial construct validity. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a three‐factor model of helpless‐dysregulated, anxious‐hyperactivated, and avoidant‐deactivated caregiving representations. Internal consistency was acceptable (α >.73). Construct validity analyses showed that higher helpless‐dysregulated caregiving was associated with low maternal antenatal attachment quality (rs = −.36) and intensity (rs = −.11), increased risk of perinatal depression (rs=.37), and trait anxiety (rs=.37). Higher anxious‐hyperactivated caregiving was associated with better maternal antenatal attachment quality (rs=.20) and higher intensity (rs =.26), while avoidant‐deactivated caregiving was not associated with maternal antenatal attachment. These findings support the validity and multidimensional structure of the measure. The homogenous nature of the sample limits generalizability of results. Future studies should examine predictive validity of the PCEQ‐R and include clinical samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]