Longitudinal health framing during the perinatal period

Alcohol consumption in pregnancy can lead to potentially harmful results for both the mother and child. Currently there is no known safe amount of alcohol use during pregnancy or while trying to get pregnant. Therefore, UK Chief Medical Officer recommendations are to abstain from alcohol during pregnancy (a ‘precautionary’ approach). However, estimated UK rates of alcohol exposed pregnancy (41-75%) are high (Kaminen-Ahola, 2020; Popova et al., 2017). These estimates rely on old data and many women choose to not disclose their alcohol consumption in pregnancy. This could be due to a variety of reasons, including societal pressure, stigma, fear of judgment, or lack of awareness about the potential risks (Braun, 2023; Gunnarsson, et al 2013). Additionally, a study by Anderson et, al (2014) found that pregnant women described a lack of clear information and conflicting messages about alcohol use during pregnancy, which may affect the way they talk about their own drinking behaviour. While current guidance within the UK recommends abstinence only, women are still known to consume alcohol during pregnancy (Hammer et al., 2022). This may stem from conflicting guidance from midwives along with belief in capabilities & consequences (Schölin et al., 2019). Furthermore, research suggests misinterpretation of UK guidelines, contrasting guidance, and regulations given by professionals to women may led to false self-reports from women, resulting in incorrect UK data (Smith et al., 2021). Recent work has shown that adopting a ‘cutting down’ approach (reducing alcohol use where possible) can reduce fear as defensive processing to avoid personally relevant alcohol related information (Morris & Tattan-Birch 2025). As such this study will seek to investigate the effect of a brief intervention comparing, control to abstinence only, and to abstinence and cutting down intervention.