ETSU professor’s book serves as resource to combat growing challenge
ETSU's Dr. Brenda Louw served as editor for "Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome:
Speech-Language Pathologists and Interprofessional Care”.
East Tennessee State University’s Dr. Brenda Louw, a professor emerita in the College of Health Sciences’ Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, recently served as editor of a new book to help speech-language pathologists (SLPs)
and other health professionals confront a growing problem: neonatal opioid withdrawal
syndrome (NOWS).
The book, “Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome: Speech-Language Pathologists and Interprofessional
Care,” serves as a comprehensive resource for health care providers in an interprofessional
context to treat and support infants, children, parents and caregivers impacted by
NOWS.
NOWS occurs when newborns are exposed to opioid drugs while in the womb, causing them
to experience withdrawal symptoms shortly after birth.
The book features contributions from researcher-clinicians across health care professions
and different countries, bringing together research on the wide-ranging impact of
NOWS on children, its long-term impacts and best practices for treatment.
“In speech-language pathology, there’s a very limited research base on this topic,”
said Louw, who served as chair of ETSU’s Department of Audiology and Speech-Language
Pathology from 2009-21 before retiring from the university in 2023.
“There is a lot published on neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome, but very little
of that has a speech-language pathology and interprofessional focus,” Louw continued.
NOWS in infants is characterized by dysregulation of their functioning and development.
Children with a history of NOWS have an increased risk for issues like communication
delays, cognitive function problems and behavioral and emotional disorders – making
it likely that SLPs would encounter clients with NOWS on their caseloads.
“But, in the Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, we had graduate
student research projects surveying students nationally to see whether this topic
was included in their curriculum, and we found very little being included in their
training,” said Louw. “Some students were being exposed to these children and infants
in clinics, but, again, very little has been published on an SLPs role with this population,
or on the training of students to handle these patients – that’s where the impetus
for the book came from.”
SLPs often work as part of a larger interprofessional team. As a result, the book
is not only of help to SLPs, but also to occupational and physical therapists, nurses,
physicians, other clinicians and educators.
“It really provides a go-to resource for health care professionals,” said Louw, who
also authored one of the chapters in the book. “The chapter’s authors represent the
interprofessional approach of this work, with only two of the 12 chapters written
by SLPs.”
Interprofessional care is a key focus for ETSU’s health sciences students, many of
whom participate in the university’s Interprofessional Education Program, which prepares
them to function as effective members of health care teams upon graduation.
“We hope that having this book widely available will make a difference and improve
outcomes for this population and their families,” Louw said.
To learn more about the ETSU College of Health Sciences, visit etsu.edu/chs/. “Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome: Speech-Language Pathologists and Interprofessional
Care” is available by Routledge Publishing at https://bit.ly/4iD96zs.
East Tennessee State University was founded in 1911 with a singular mission: to improve the quality of life for people in the region and beyond. Through its world-class health sciences programs and interprofessional approach to health care education, ETSU is a highly respected leader in rural health research and practices. The university also boasts nationally ranked programs in the arts, technology, computing, and media studies. ETSU serves approximately 14,000 students each year and is ranked among the top 10 percent of colleges in the nation for students graduating with the least amount of debt.
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