Teen Pregnancy Prevention Policy - Essay Sample

Introduction

Teenagers have many risky behaviors. One of them is teen pregnancies. Effective policies of teen pregnancy prevention have been the center of debate both nationwide and worldwide. The differences in policies in countries attribute to the number of teen pregnancies. The paper provides a literature review that discusses what other scholars say about such policies and what they have done to prevent teen pregnancy. Policymakers and human health service professionals have to be vigilant to ensure that they set evidence-based policies, which would prevent teen pregnancies.

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Literature Review

Hoing (2012) affirms that teen pregnancies have become rampant in society. As the author adds, there are various strategies in place, which are considered attempts to reduce higher rates of teenage pregnancies. Speaking about the trends in state policy of teenage pregnancy prevention, Ooms and Golonka (2015) indicate that adolescent pregnancy and parenthood is on top of the national agenda. As the author adds, various states have made considerable progress to ensure that they implement various programs and policies to reduce teen pregnancies. Furthermore, Thomas (2012) asserts that the three strategies intended to prevent pregnancies, which include condom use, pregnancy prevention for vulnerable youth, and family planning services have benefit-cost ratios that produce returns on taxpayers on each dollar spent. Sarantaki and Koutelekos (2014) mention that policies aimed at preventing teen pregnancies focus on the needs of each state to achieve a desirable outcome of reducing teen pregnancies. Also, the author adds that sex education would be beneficial in ensuring that teenagers practice safe-sex or rather abstain from it. A better measure that would minimize the high rates of teenage pregnancies would be to inform them more about the use of contraceptives. Also, Akpor, Oa, Wright, and Tmm (2015) affirm that community participation is significant in reducing the high number of teen pregnancies.

Silk and Romero (2013) synthesize policies using Kirby's analysis of risk and protective factors. They provide examples of viable policies as Abstinence-only Education (AOE) in the 1980s in the 18 and Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE), which have been effective in reducing sexual risks among teenagers. The authors discuss the involvement of parents. Also, Solomon-Fears (2016) talks about the abstinence-only approach introduced by the government, which reduced both birth and abortion rates among teens. However, as they say, research shows that CSE is more effective than AOE in reducing teen pregnancies (Silk and Romero, 2013; Rabbitte and Enriquez, 2018). As Solomon-Fears (2016) justifies, the comprehensive approach equips teens with skills that they use for decision-making on whether or not to engage in sexual activities.

Maly, McClendon, Baumgartner, Nakyanjo, Ddaaki, Serwadda, Nalugoda, Wawer, Bonnevie, and Wagman (2017) conduct research on perceptions of teen pregnancies in Uganda. Their study offer insights on policies that would be effective if tailored in Uganda to prevent teen pregnancies. In their research, they find that teens that were pregnant had little to no information on sexual and reproductive decision-making because males were of authority. The author suggests a need for policies on paternity to ensure that the males who got the women pregnant were held accountable.

Mueller, Tevendale, Fuller, House, Romero, Brittain, and Varanasi (2017) talk about a community approach, which would ensure the prevention of teenage pregnancies. They applied a multi-faceted TTA framework based on the Interactive Dissemination and Implementation Systems Framework. They state that a previous application supports the use of the ISF to assist local providers in implementing interventions. The ISF was developed as a multi-system capacity-building model to help prevention practitioners and researchers bridge the gap between what is known as evidence-based practices. The authors state that the community comprehensive model was useful in preventing teen pregnancies. Lavin and Cox (2012) discuss family planning and contraceptive policies that help to protect vulnerable teenagers from pregnancies. According to the authors, this community-based initiative is useful and has helped in promoting abstinence and avoidance of multiple sexual partners. Also, Ross, Baird, and Porter 2014) discuss the way enhanced contraceptive services have met success since its inception.

Discussion

Arguably, human service professionals have to delve into more comprehensive research on teen sexual health and the role of their families. No questions or concerns can be raised from the literature because they provide ample information on policies that have been used by the federal government to prevent teenage pregnancies. Seemingly, comprehensive approaches that aid in the decision-making of sexual behaviors is the viable approach to preventing teen pregnancies. Currently, these policies are being fixed to be evidence-based to ensure they reduce teen pregnancies significantly.

Conclusion

Addressing issues of tee sexual health is important. As noted from the literature review, it would help in the formulation of effective policies that would reduce the number of teen pregnancies by a large margin. Addressing teen pregnancies should be a priority because it causes major emotional, social, health, and financial consequences. Overall, policymakers and human health service professionals have to construct evidence-based policies that would help towards reducing and eventually preventing teenage pregnancies.

References

Akpor, Oluwaseyi & , Oa & , Wright & Tmm, Maja. (2015). Community participation in teenage pregnancy prevention programmes: A systematic review. 4. 24-36. 10.14303/JRNM.2015.039.

Hoing, A.S. (2012Teen Pregnancy. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, vol. 17, Issue 4. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2012.655912

Lavin, C., and Cox, J.E. (2012). Teen Pregnancy Prevention: Current Perspectives. Current Opinion Pediatrics, vol.24, no.4. DOI:10.1097/MOP.0b013e3283555bee

Maly, C., McClendon, K., Baumgartner, J.N., Nakyanjo, N., Ddaaki, W.G.,.... (2017).

Perceptions of Adolescent Pregnancy Among Teenage Girls in Rakai, Uganda. Global Qualitative Nursing Research, vol.4. https://doi.org/10.1177/2333393617720555

Mueller, T., Tevendale, H.D., Fuller, T.R., House, L.D., Romero, L.M.,... (2017). Teen Pregnancy Prevention: Implementation of a Multicomponent, Community-Wide Approach. Journal of Adolescent Health, vol. 60, Issue 3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.11.002

Ooms, T., and Golonka, S. (2015). Evolving State Policies on Teen Pregnancy and Parenthood: What More Can the Feds Do to Help? The Policy Institute for Family Impact Seminars. Retrieved from https://www.purdue.edu/hhs/hdfs/fii/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/pf_fis15report.pdf

Rabbitte, M., and Enriquez, M. (2018). The Role of Policy on Sexual Health Education in Schools: Review. The Journal of School Nursing, vol. 35, Issue 1. doi.org/10.1177/1059840518789240

Ross, S & Baird, Aisling & Porter, Charlotte. (2014). Teenage pregnancy: Strategies for prevention. Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproductive Medicine. 24. 266-273. 10.1016/j.ogrm.2014.06.002.

Sarantaki, A., and Koutelekos, I. (2014). Teenage Pregnancy. Health Science Journal, Issue 2.

Silk, Jessica & Romero, Diana. (2013). The Role of Parents and Families in Teen Pregnancy

Prevention: An Analysis of Programs and Policies. Journal of Family Issues. 35. 1339-1362. 10.1177/0192513X13481330.

Solomon-Fears, C. (2016). Teenage Pregnancy Prevention: Statistics and Programs.

Congressional Research Service. Retrieved from https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS20301.pdf

Thomas, A. (2012). Three Strategies to Prevent Unintended Pregnancy. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 31(2): 280-311.