The co-creation and evaluation of a recovery community center bundled model to build recovery capital through the promotion of reproductive health and justice

Abstract

People who can get pregnant who use drugs face disproportionate harms such as violence, exploitation and trauma and have unmet reproductive health needs as they have the greatest burden of unintended pregnancy (>75%). Recovery community centers (RCCs) provide recovery support services and are primarily staffed with people with lived experience using drugs. RCCs employ recovery coaches who are entrusted with helping participants improve their recovery capital, health, and wellbeing through person-centered strengths-based approaches. Although reproductive health and the prevention of unintended pregnancy can greatly impact all domains of recovery capital, recovery coaches generally do not have training to address this complex issue. We aimed to fill this gap by co-creating and evaluating a bundled model as an intervention tailored for RCCs (training & low-barrier resources including pregnancy tests, prenatal vitamins, and emergency contraception) to promote more equitable outcomes in reproductive health. We described the training and used mixed methods to assess pre-post knowledge, belief, and comfort with the bundled model (n = 20) and further explored perceptions of the model qualitatively to inform future iterations (n = 58). Results included significant gains in all three domains following the training, as well as favorable perceptions that the model will enhance recovery capital. Most were empowered to champion the model, asking for more information about the three resources, perinatal health, and referral information. We seek to begin to expand the theoretical construct of recovery capital by pilot testing an intervention to promote recovery through enhancing reproductive health and justice for people who use drugs (PWUD) who can get pregnant.

Keywords: Unintended pregnancy; justice; people who use drugs; recovery capital; reproductive health; training.