What topics does this cannabis study cover?

This study covers research on: Addiction, Mental Health.

Where was this research published?

Published in Journal of medical Internet research on July 8, 2026.

Most pregnant women spontaneously cut cannabis use without special intervention

A Web-Based Intervention for Reducing Sexually Transmitted Infections and Substance Use During Pregnancy: Randomized Controlled Trial.

Journal of medical Internet research • July 8, 2026 • Clinical Trial • Moderately Relevant

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AI Summary

This randomized controlled trial tested the Health Check-Up for Expectant Moms (HCEM), a web-based intervention designed to reduce substance use and sexually transmitted infection (STI) risk in pregnant women. The study recruited 176 pregnant women at risk for alcohol, drug, or cannabis use during pregnancy from Michigan clinics and social media. Importantly, 35.2% of participants reported cannabis use in the 90 days before enrollment, making it the most prevalent substance in the study sample, with 10.2% reporting use in the month prior to baseline. This highlights the significant scope of cannabis use among pregnant women seeking prenatal care.

The intervention used motivational interviewing principles delivered through an automated technology platform to encourage behavior change. However, the results were sobering: both the intervention and control groups showed similar reductions in alcohol and cannabis use over the 6-month follow-up period, and these improvements were not statistically different between groups. More importantly, researchers discovered that most of the substance use reduction occurred spontaneously before the study started, suggesting that pregnant women were already motivated to change their behavior. The lack of significant intervention effects on condomless sex was also notable. The authors conclude that their sample was largely low-risk and that future research needs to target pregnant women with more severe, active substance use.

These findings have important implications for cannabis use in pregnancy. While the study didn't specifically test a cannabis-focused intervention, the high prevalence of cannabis use among pregnant women underscores a critical gap in understanding and addressing prenatal cannabis exposure. The spontaneous reduction observed in both groups suggests that many pregnant women recognize the risks and naturally reduce use once they engage with prenatal care—but the need for more evidence-based interventions targeting higher-risk populations remains urgent.

📄 Original Abstract

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are at a record high in the United States and are a significant health problem for childbearing women. Rates of substance use, particularly cannabis and opioid use, have increased in recent years and are linked to negative health consequences for pregnant women and their infants. Addressing these health concerns together during this vulnerable time is a priority. This study aims to test whether the Health Check-Up for Expectant Moms (HCEM), an innovative, theory-driven, technology-delivered, and fully automated brief intervention, reduced condomless sex and STI risk, alcohol, or drug use, compared to a control condition in pregnant women seeking prenatal care. We recruited a sample of 176 pregnant women (all were at risk for alcohol or drug use or STIs during pregnancy) from clinics and using social media campaigns (Facebook and Instagram) in the state of Michigan and randomized them to the motivational interviewing-consistent HCEM intervention or to an attention-, time-, and information-matched control condition delivered using the same technology platform. We followed these women at 2 and 6 months after the initial intervention visit. Primary outcomes included self-report assessment of alcohol, drug, or cannabis use and unprotected sexual occasions during pregnancy. A total of 88 women were randomized to the intervention, and 88 to the control condition. Cannabis use was the most prevalent substance reported during pregnancy; a total of 35.2% (62/176) reported recent use (within the last 90 days) at baseline, with 10.2% (18/176) reporting use in the month prior to baseline. There were significant reductions in alcohol and cannabis use over time during pregnancy (at 2 and 6 months compared to baseline) in both HCEM and control groups; however, these reductions were not significantly different between conditions (time-by-arm interaction), and most were sustained from spontaneous reductions reported in the month before study enrollment. Moreover, there were no statistically significant differences in the change pattern of condomless sex across the groups at either follow-up. There are many potential benefits of a technology-delivered approach to support the behavioral health of pregnant women in a private and convenient way. Our sample was largely low-risk, and as such, an intervention effect may have been impossible to observe given substantial self-change. Future trials are needed to examine efficacy in other samples of pregnant women with a higher risk of current alcohol or drug use. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03826342; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03826342. RR2-10.2196/30367.

Paper Type

🧪 Clinical Trial

Publication

Journal: Journal of medical Internet research
Published: July 8, 2026
PMID: 42418232
DOI: 10.2196/95944

Authors (9)

Golfo Tzilos Wernette Department of Family Medicine, Medical School, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
Ananda Sen Department of Family Medicine, Medical School, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
Dongru Chen Department of Family Medicine, Medical School, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
Kristina Countryman Department of Family Medicine, Medical School, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
Okeoma Mmeje Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical School, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
+4 more authors