New CTIS Collaboration With WIC to Help Women Avoid Risky Drinking During Pregnancy

SAN DIEGO, CA, Aug 13 (MARKET WIRE) --
The California Teratogen Information Service (CTIS) -- a non-profit
housed at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and
serving the entire state of California -- has joined with San Diego State
University's Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program in a project aimed
to prevent alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

Funded by a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality,
CTIS will evaluate the effectiveness of an adapted web-based alcohol
program that aims to measure and reduce current alcohol consumption among
low-income non-pregnant women participating in WIC's Special Supplemental
Nutritional Program.

"Our mission is to educate women on risks and to promote a healthy
pregnancy outcome," said Dr. Christina Chambers, the program director of
the CTIS Pregnancy Risk Line and associate professor of Pediatrics at the
University of California, San Diego. "Heavy prenatal alcohol use is a
common known cause of adverse effects in a developing baby and is
completely preventable. This program has great potential to address this
critical issue using 21st century technology."

The new web-based program is adapted from the "electronic-Check Up To Go"
(e-CHUG), originally developed at San Diego State University (SDSU) as an
alcohol assessment and intervention tool, and is currently being used
successfully in over 300 college campuses throughout the U.S. The e-CHUG
program draws on motivational interviewing and social norms feedback to
motivate individuals to reduce their alcohol consumption.

Through formative research, the e-CHUG program was specially redesigned to
address alcohol consumption in women of childbearing potential. CTIS
played a large role in ensuring the appropriateness of the modified
program, a first of its kind for WIC in the alcohol field.

"The web-based platform of the study is unique as it allows it to be more
specific and interactive than other existing computer-based programs,"
said Katia Delrahim Howlett, a doctoral candidate and the principal
investigator of the CTIS study. "CTIS hopes to see the program feedback
positively influence participants by increasing awareness of the negative
affects of alcohol use during pregnancy."

CTIS will test the effectiveness of the adapted program through a
small-scale two-group randomized controlled trial, with and without the
addition of a web-based personalized feedback. The feedback is intended to
reduce risky alcohol use within WIC participants, as defined by the
consumption of three or more alcoholic drinks in one occasion.

Qualified and consenting participants will be randomly assigned to
complete the web-based assessment and will receive either general health
feedback or personalized feedback intervention. All participants will
complete follow-up assessments on reported alcohol consumption after one
month and two months.

If the findings of the preliminary study demonstrate that the program is
effective, CTIS will continue to validate its findings through additional
studies. If the program is further validated, it has the potential to be
implemented as a cost-effective program of similar nature into different
types of clinical settings. The goal will be to appropriately and
accurately assess multiple health behaviors in order to provide
appropriate feedback and health education to improve health outcomes of
pregnancy.

The launch of the study is a prelude to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
Awareness Month in September and the 10th annual FASD Day on September 9,
2009. FASD Awareness Day is promoted by the National Organization of
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in Washington, D.C.

Founded 27 years ago and housed at the UC San Diego School of Medicine,
CTIS offers a free Pregnancy Risk Information Line at 1-800-532-3749 that
fields questions (in both English and Spanish) about exposure concerns and
where to find medical advice and referral resources to pregnant and
breastfeeding women and their families.

Recently, CTIS launched a new website (www.ctispregnancy.org) that
provides links to the most current information about potentially harmful
exposures -- from illnesses to environmental toxins and hazardous
occupational materials -- before, during and after pregnancy. It also can
lead women and their families and health care providers to other
knowledgeable resources and teratology professionals that specialize in
birth defects caused by exposures during pregnancy.

For more information about CTIS or its free telephone and online services,
call 1-800-532-3749 or visit www.ctispregnancy.org.

CONTACT:
Audrey Doherty/Stephanie Heliker
Chemistry
(619) 236-8397
Email Contact

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