Educating Health Professionals about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

The Topic of Alcohol within the Scottish Occupational Therapy Curricula

Introduction:

Scotland has witnessed a large rise in all types of alcohol-related illnesses, and in alcohol-related deaths. Despite this escalating problem, previous research in Scotland has demonstrated that gaps exist in the knowledge base of graduate occupational therapists. This study therefore aimed to document the content of alcohol in Scottish occupational therapy curricula.

Method:

This study was conducted during 2010–11. A questionnaire was sent to the programme leader of all the Scottish Higher Education Institutes offering a BSc (Hons) degree in occupational therapy, and to the only Further Education College in Scotland offering a Higher National Certificate in occupational therapy. The response rate was 100%.

Findings:

There is a lack of cohesive approach to alcohol misuse education within the occupational therapy curricula delivered in Scotland. Key proposals of the Scottish Government targeting alcohol misuse are inadequately addressed.

Conclusion:

The topic of alcohol and alcohol misuse is taught to varying degrees within the curricula offered in Scotland and further emphasis needs to be placed on understanding alcohol misuse and associated potential interventions, irrespective of practice context.

Intervention for individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: treatment approaches and case management

Exposure to alcohol in utero is considered to be the leading cause of developmental disabilities of known etiology. The most severe consequence of such exposure, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), is characterized by a distinct constellation of characteristic facial anomalies, growth retardation, and central nervous system (CNS) dysfunction. Some individuals with prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) do not meet the full criteria for FAS, but instead are diagnosed with partial FAS, alcohol related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND), or alcohol related birth defects (ARBD). The entire continuum of effects from PAE is increasingly being referred to under the umbrella term of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). An extensive body of research has documented major cognitive, behavioral, adaptive, social, and emotional impairments among individuals with FASDs. Although FAS was identified in the U.S. over 35 years ago, the development, evaluation, and dissemination of evidence-based interventions for individuals with FASDs have lagged behind significantly. Encouragingly, however, in recent years there has been a marked increase in efforts to design and test interventions to remediate the impairments associated with prenatal alcohol exposure. This article will review treatment needs and considerations for individuals with FASDs and their families, current empirically tested treatment approaches, case management issues, and suggestions for future directions in research on the treatment of FASDs.

Teratology: from science to birth defects prevention

One of the goals of birth defects research is to better understand risk or preventive factors for birth defects so that strategies for prevention can be developed. In this article, we have selected four areas of birth defects research that have led to the development of prevention strategies. These areas include rubella virus as a cause of congenital rubella syndrome, folic acid as a preventive factor for neural tube defects, cytomegalovirus infection as a cause of birth defects and developmental disabilities, and alcohol as a cause of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. For each of these areas, we review key clinical and research findings that led to the identification of the risk or preventive factor, milestones in the development of prevention strategies, and the progress made thus far toward prevention.