304 - Physician attitudes on parental marijuana use and parenting skills in the primary care setting

Monday, May 1, 2023

9:30 AM – 11:30 AM ET

Poster Number: 304
Publication Number: 304.408

Elisabeth McGovern, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United States; Barbara H. Chaiyachati, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States; Neera Goyal, Nemours Children's Hospital, Philadelphia, PA, United States; Jessica Rohde, NemoursAlfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, DE, United States; Emily F. Gregory, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Presenting Author(s)

Elisabeth McGovern, MD (she/her/hers)

Pediatric resident physician
Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Background: Little is known about physician attitudes regarding parental marijuana use (PMU) and parenting skills, and their confidence in providing PMU-specific anticipatory guidance (AG).

Objective: To describe physician attitudes towards PMU, their confidence in providing AG on PMU, and to explore correlations between physician attitudes of maternal OUD vs PMU.

Design/Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at one U.S. pediatric residency program from April 2022 to June 2022. Respondents included resident and attending physicians who practice at three primary care teaching sites. Survey items addressed practice and perceptions relevant to maternal OUD and PMU. Respondents used a Likert scale to express level of agreement with statements regarding mothers with OUD and PMU. Survey responses were re-grouped into a secondary scoring system in which a score of 1 indicated strong agreement and agreement with statements, 2 indicated strong disagreement and disagreement, and 3 indicated neutral or unsure views. Chi-square analyses were used to identify correlations between physician demographics and attitudes regarding PMU and between attitudes regarding PMU and maternal OUD.

Results:

There were 68 respondents representing a response rate of 27%, with approximately two-thirds identified as residents (Table 1). Using chi-square analysis, there was no significant relationship between physician attitude regarding PMU and clinical role, years in practice, number of weekly hours spent in an outpatient setting, or provider age. 44.3% respondents expressed positive attitudes regarding parenting skills of parents who use marijuana, 9.8% respondents expressed negative attitudes, and 45.9% expressed neutral or unsure attitudes. 34.4% respondents expressed confidence in their ability to provide AG regarding PMU and safe parenting practices, while 65.6% reported lack of confidence or uncertainty (Figure 1).

Physicians expressed significantly more p</span>ositive attitudes regarding parenting skills of mothers with OUD when compared to parenting skills of parents who use marijuana, of which physicians were more likely to express negative or neutral/unsure attitudes (chi-squared p=0.008). This significant difference was driven by increased uncertainty among physicians regarding the impact of PMU on use of positive parenting.

Conclusion(s): Physicians in this sample were grossly undecided about the influence of PMU on use of positive parenting. Physicians would benefit from additional training in safe and positive parenting in the setting of PMU given self-reported uncertainty in ability to provide appropriate AG.