We’ve selected a few of the research articles that have been published over the last year to highlight the recent work that has been done in the field of FASD. In 2019 we compiled a list of 230 articles that were published in the field of FASD. We narrowed our list of top articles down to 25 and focused on the areas of prevention, intervention, assessment and diagnosis, child welfare, justice, and family collaboration. 

Below is our list of the 25 top articles, broken down by subject. Bolded text indicates open-source articles (i.e. publications available for free to everyone).

Assessment, Diagnosis, and Clinical Presentation of FASD

• Coons-Harding, K.D., Flannigan, K., Burns, C., Rajani, H., & Symes, B. (2019). Assessing for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: A survey of assessment measures used in Alberta, Canada. Journal of Population Therapeutics and Clinical Pharmacology, 26(1), E39-E55. doi:10.22374/1710-6222.26.1.4
• Doyle, L. R., Coles, C. D., Kable, J. A., May, P. A., Sowell, E. R., Jones, K. L., Mattson, S. N. (2019). Relation between adaptive function and IQ among youth with histories of heavy prenatal alcohol exposure. Birth Defects Research, 111(12), 812-821. doi:10.1002/bdr2.1463
• Garrison, L., Morley, S., Chambers, C. D., & Bakhireva, L. N. (2019). Forty years of assessing neurodevelopmental and behavioural effects of prenatal alcohol exposure in infants: What have we learned? Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, 43(8), 1632-1642. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.14127
• Lebel, C. A., McMorris, C. A., Kar, P., Ritter, C., Andre, Q., Tortorelli, C., & BenGibbard, W. (2019). Characterizing adverse prenatal and postnatal experiences in children. Birth Defects Research, 111(12), 848-858. doi:10.1002/bdr2.1464
• Mukherjee, R. A. S., Cook, P. A., Norgate, S. H., & Price, A. D. (2019). Neurodevelopmental outcomes in individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) with and without exposure to neglect: Clinical cohort data from a national FASD diagnostic clinic. Alcohol, 76, 23-28. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcohol.2018.06.002

Intervention

• Kapasi, A., Makela, M., Joly, V., Flannigan, K., & Pei, J.(2019). Understandingemployment success in adults with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 51(3), 377-393. doi:10.3233/JVR-191053.
• Makela, M. L., Pei, J. R., Kerns, K. A., MacSween, J. V., Kapasi, A., & Rasmussen, C. (2019). Teaching children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder to use metacognitive strategies. The Journal of Special Education, 53(2), 119-128. doi:10.1177/0022466919832371
• Quan, R., Brintnell, E. S., & Leung, A. W. S.(2019). Elements for developing community-based interventions for adults with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: A scoping review. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 82(4), 201-212. doi:10.1177/0308022618790206

Mental Health

• Dirks, H., Francke, L., Würz, V., Kretschmann, C., Dehghan-Sanij, S., & Scherbaum, N. (2019). Substance use, comorbid psychiatric disorders and suicide attempts in adult FASD patients. Advances in Dual Diagnosis, 12(1-2), 6-13. doi:10.1108/add-10-2018-0018
• Mela, M., Coons-Harding, K. D., & Anderson, T. (2019). Recent advances in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder for mental health professionals. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 32(4), 328- 335. doi:10.1097/YCO.0000000000000514
• Temple, V. K., Cook, J. L., Unsworth, K., Rajani, H., & Mela, M. (2019). Mental health and affect regulation impairment in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD): Results from the Canadian National FASD Database. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 54(5), 545-550. doi:10.1093/alcalc/agz049

Prevention and Maternal Health

• Hai, A. H., Hammock, K., & Velasquez, M. M. (2019). The efficacy of technology-based interventions for alcohol and illicit drug use among women of childbearing age: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 43(12), 2464- 2479. doi:10.1111/acer.14203
• Oni, H. T., Buultjens, M., Abdel-Latif, M. E., & Islam, M. M. (2019). Barriers to screening pregnant women for alcohol or other drugs: A narrative synthesis. Women and Birth, 32(6), 479-486. doi:10.1016/j.wombi.2018.11.009
• Pei, J., Carlson, E., Tremblay, M., & Poth, C. (2019). Exploring the contributions and suitability of relational and community-centered fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) prevention work in First Nation communities. Birth Defects Research, 111, 835-847. doi:10.1002/bdr2.1480
• Singal, D., Brownell, M., Wall-Wieler, E., Chateau, D., Hanlon-Dearman, A., Longstaffe, S., & Roos, L. L. (2019). Prenatal care of women who give birth to children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in a universal health care system: A case-control study using linked administrative data. CMAJ Open, 7(1),E63-E72. doi:10.9778/cmajo.20180027
• Wolfson, L., Poole, N., Ninomiya, M. M., Rutman, D., Letendre, S., Winterhoff, T., Rowan, T. (2019). Collaborative action on fetal alcohol spectrum disorder prevention: Principles for enacting the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Call to Action #33. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(9). doi:10.3390/ijerph16091589

Child Welfare

• Coons-Harding, K. D., Azulai, A., & McFarlane, A. (2019). State-of-the-art review of transition planning tools for youth with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in Canada. Journal on Developmental Disabilities, 24(1), 81-98.
• Hutton, S., Head, K. J., Lyttle, S., Jordyn, Kenneally, N., & Rehou, M. (2019). System kids: Transition-aged youth from foster care to developmental services. Journal on Developmental Disabilities, 24(1), 49-65.

Caregivers/Families

• Brown, J., Kapasi, A., Nowicki, E., & Cleversey, K. (2019). Expectations of youth with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in adulthood: Caregiver perspectives. Journal on Developmental Disabilities, 24(2), 30-42.
• Reid, N., & Moritz, K. M. (2019). Caregiver and family quality of life for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 94. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2019.103478

Justice

• Freeman, J., Condon, C., Hamilton, S., Mutch, R. C., Bower, C., & Watkins, R. E. (2019). Challenges in accurately assessing prenatal alcohol exposure in a study of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in a youth detention center. Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, 43(2), 309-316. doi: 10.1111/acer.13926
• McLachlan, K., McNeil, A., Pei, J., Brain, U., Andrew, G., & Oberlander, T. F. (2019). Prevalence and characteristics of adults with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in corrections: A Canadian case ascertainment study. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 43. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-6292-x

Research Methodology/Policy Issues

• Aspler, J., Zizzo, N., Bell, E., Di Pietro, N., & Racine, E. (2019). Stigmatisation, exaggeration, and contradiction: An analysis of scientific and clinical content in Canadian print media discourse about fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Canadian Journal of Bioethics, 2(2), 23-35.

Basic Science and Epigenetics

• Holman, P. J., Baglot, S. L., Morgan, E., & Weinberg, J. (2019). Effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on social competence: Asymmetry in play partner preference among heterogeneous triads of male and female rats. Developmental Psychobiology, 61(4), 513-524. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.21842
• McLachlan, K., Vavasour, I., MacKay, A., Brain, U., Oberlander, T., Loock, C., Beaulieu, C. (2019). Myelin water fraction imaging of the brain in children with prenatal alcohol exposure. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 43(5), 833-841. doi:10.1111/acer.14024

Read more here and check out our annotated bibliography of the Top FASD Articles of 2018!