Teen Pregnancy Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention

Teen Pregnancy

Adolescent pregnancy prevention programs play a critical part in adolescent sexual education. At the same time, there is a great deal of controversy about the effectiveness of these programs. This paper attempts to increase understanding of this controversial area by integrating observations from a real-world field placement in a pregnancy prevention program with Girls Incorporated of Orange County with information provided in 1) an empirical article, and 2) an article in the popular media. The articles reviewed are: Regina P. Lederman and Tahir S. Mian's 2003 article, the Parent-Adolescent Relationship Education Program: a curriculum for prevention of STDs and pregnancy in middle school youth, and Teen pregnancy prevention, in Health24.com, an online magazine. Ideas for a new study that offers additional insight into the issues affecting teen pregnancy programs are provided, and recommendations for conducting more research and writing popular articles to inform about field placements are given.

Field Placement Observations

The field study placement described in this article is for an internship at Girls Incorporated of Orange County, with a program called Girls Inc. Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy (PAP). The internship position as an outreach program facilitator was carried out at junior high and high schools. The program focus was on preventing adolescent pregnancy, and was made up four main components. These components were: Growing Together, Will Power/Won't Power, Taking Care of Business, and Health Bridge (Girls Inc. Of Orange County).

Growing Together is a program aimed at children aged 9 to 11 and parents, and focuses on parent-child workshops to foster healthy communication. Will Power/Won't Power is aimed at children ages 12 to 14 and provides help with developing assertiveness and decision-making skills. Taking Care of Business, for adolescents aged 15 to 18 provides career and educational planning and goal-setting assistance. Health Bridge provides information about community health resources, and is aimed at adolescents from ages 15 to 18 (Girls Inc. Of Orange County).

Girls Incorporated of Orange County's Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy program is recognized on a national basis as one of only a handful of research-based programs that address the prevention of teen pregnancy (Girls Inc. Of Orange County). Girls Incorporated notes, "We have found the outreach model to be highly effective, affording the opportunity for a close partnership with school administrators and faculty to identify children in greatest need."

My time as an outreach program facilitator provided me with a real-world observations of a field study placement. As an outreach program facilitator, I worked with Girls Incorporated's outreach program, which is aimed at high school and middle school girls at outreach sites in Tustin, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa and Garden Grove. My time with these girls allowed me to better understand the challenges facing young girls, school administrators, parents, and pregnancy prevention program facilitators.

In my experience, girls often were what I would consider reasonable knowledgeable about the mechanics of sex and pregnancy. While this is certainly a generalization, most girls seemed to understand relatively simple concepts like how children are conceived, and how condoms work to prevent pregnancy. In contrast, my experience often highlighted problems in communication between the girls and their parents, and problems with assertiveness and goal setting. Many of the girls seemed to feel powerless in the decisions that affected their lives, and many complained that they did not feel comfortable talking to their parents about important decisions involving sexuality or even their careers.

A found that the Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy program that I worked with provided helpful intervention in the girl's lives. The program provided teen girls with the knowledge and skills to address educational and career opportunities in the Taking Care of Business workshops. In addition, the Growing Together component of the program helped address some communication issues that existed between the girls and their parents. Similarly, Will Power/Won't Power seemed to have a positive impact on the girl's perception that they could control their decisions and outcomes of those decisions.

Article Reviews

Regina P. Lederman and Tahir S. Mian's 2003 article, titled the Parent-Adolescent Relationship Education Program: a curriculum for prevention of STDs and pregnancy in middle school youth, provides an overview of a teen pregnancy prevention program from an empirical perspective. The article, published in Behavioral Medicine, studies the effectiveness of the Parent-Adolescent Relationship Education (PARE) curriculum, aimed at youth from 12 to 14.

Study participants were 150 parent-child couples from five middle schools (in two different school districts) in southeast Texas. Participants were equally assigned to either an experimental group, or a control group. The experimental group received education via a social teaching approach [the Parent-Adolescent Relationship Education (PARE) curriculum]. The control group received similar content received without social learning exercises.

The Parent-Adolescent Relationship Education (PARE) curriculum given to the experimental group focused on a social learning model that "includes teacher and peer modeling of desirable behaviors and the practice of these behaviors through role playing" (Lederman and Mian, 2003). In addition, the social learning model focused on self-efficacy, incorporation of cognitive behavioral models, and provided practice training for applying these skills. The PARE curriculum also included "activities to personalize information about sexuality and reproduction, and provides training in problem-solving, decision-making, and assertive communication skills" (Lederman and Mian, 2003).

Measurement of results included two survey tests, taken four to six months apart, aimed at measuring practices and beliefs about AIDs, STDs, and unsafe sexual behavior in six to eighth grade children. Student and parent questionnaires were given at eight different occasions.

The Parent-Adolescent Relationship Education (PARE) program was designed specifically to address some features missing in existing pregnancy prevention programs. Specifically, the program was aimed at involving parents in the education of early teens who "need parental support and communication to develop healthy psychosocial and sexual behaviors and to counteract powerful pressures for unsafe behaviors" (Lederman and Mian, 2003). Such parental involvement may reduce the onset of sexual activity, especially when it combines skill and knowledge training to both children and their parents.

Teen Pregnancy Prevention, an article from Health24.com, provides an insight into teen pregnancy programs from a popular media perspective. The article describes the Teen Outreach Program (TOP), implemented in Roanoke high schools in the United States. The program is part of a broader nation-wide initiative and is notable for "how little it deals with sex and how much it deals with learning to feel good about yourself" (Health24.com). At the same time, Doug Kirby, author of an upcoming book on teen pregnancy prevention programs, notes, "The Teen Outreach Program and other service-learning programs have among the strongest evidence of any pregnancy-prevention programs that they actually reduce teen pregnancy."

The article focuses heavily on anecdotal evidence of the program's success. This includes quotes from students who have taken the course, as well as their parents. In particular, the article notes that several students ceased sexual activity after taking the course.

In addition, the Health24.com article identifies traits shared by effective teen pregnancy programs, including "setting specific goals, like delaying the start of sex; giving clear advice on healthy choices about sex, including abstinence as well as birth control; providing well-trained teachers; and teaching social skills to prepare the students for life after school" (Health24.com).

Synthesis of Article Reviews and Field Placement

Both the empirical article by Lederman and Mian (2003) and the popular media article by Health24.com provide an interesting comparison to the personal experiences in my field placement. In general, Lederman and Mian's (2003) empirical article provides a better academic understanding of the program I worked with, but Health24.com's popular article provides a better understanding of how programs can impact their participants.

Overall, my experiences with my field placement agree with many of the points in Lederman and Mian's (2003) article. The Parent-Adolescent Relationship Education (PARE) curriculum in their article shares similarities with my practical experience at the Girls Inc. Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy (PAP) program. For example, both programs focus strongly on the participant's social well-being, rather than simple sex education. My practical observations at the Girls Inc. Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy (PAP) program validated Lederman and Mian's (2003) assertions that such social training can be effective in helping young girls. While Lederman and Mian's (2003) article validated my experiences at an academic level, it did not give me with a real understanding of the experiences of children.