Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a diagnostic term used to describe the continuum of effects from prenatal alcohol exposure (Bell et al., 2016; Dejong et al., 2019). Prenatal alcohol exposure has been identified as the leading preventable cause of developmental disability in Canada (CanFASD, 2019). FASD impacts approximately 4% of Canadians, and Northern regions have been reported to be at a greater risk of alcohol use during pregnancy(Popova et al., 2017). Although prevention initiatives have effectively raised awareness of FASD, such approaches have been counterproductive and ineffective in reducing the risk of alcohol use during pregnancy (Roozen et al., 2020). The Sudbury-Manitoulin region is a suitable demographic for this study, as approximately 2% of Sudburians report alcohol use during pregnancy. Although this is an encouragingly low prevalence compared to the Canadian average of 12.5% (Popova et al., 2017), this discrepancy may imply that women are reluctant to disclose information about alcohol use during pregnancy due to fear, guilt, or shame.The objective of this study involves evaluating pregnant women and new mothers' attitudes about alcohol use during pregnancy while analyzing their opinions regarding existing FASD prevention campaigns. This study will recruit 100 pregnant women and new mothers aged 17 to 45 of varying ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. For this study, a basic qualitative design will be employed. The data will be collected using focus group sessions and analyzed via thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2019). Nevertheless, this study will increase the awareness of the risks of alcohol use during pregnancy while addressing the need to integrate marginalized voices (e.g., Indigenous populations) into the FASD discourse.