4096.0: Tuesday, November 14, 2000: 12:30 PM-2:00 PM

Factors Influencing Services Utilization by Pregnant and Parenting Adolescents

This session will present data from CSAP's Program "Initiatives on Welfare Reform and Substance Abuse Prevention for Parenting Adolescents" regarding services utilization by the target population. Parenting teens who are TANF-eligible are at high risk for substance abuse and many other negative outcomes related to their and their children's health and well-being. CSAP has funded 10 projects nationwide to provide comprehensive preventive interventions to this population designed to: 1) prevent or reduce AT&D use; 2) improve academic performance; 3) reduce subsequent pregnancies; and 4) foster improvement in parenting and life skills and general well-being. The study includes approximately 2,200 teenage parents living in households at or below the federal poverty level, who have been randomly assigned to treatment or control groups. The projects represent a wide range of racial/ethnic populations, population density, community settings, service availability, and regional characteristics. These projects seek to provide comprehensive services to participants, but not all parenting adolescents utilize the available services. The results of analyses to determine factors influencing the use of various services by parenting adolescents be will presented. Such factors include: perceived need for services; accessibility of services; individual factors such as self efficacy, motivation, general health, depression, etc.; availability of social support; and neighborhood safety. Implications of results for programs serving parenting adolescents will be discussed, and successful program strategies to encourage service use by reluctant populations will be described and linked to community characteristics and individual characteristics of participants
See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement.
Learning Objectives: Refer to the individual abstracts for learning objectives
Organizer(s):Laura J. Flinchbaugh
Board 1Ethnic Variations in Services Utilization
David MacPhee, PhD, J. Fritz, Jan Miller-Heyl, MS
Board 2Factors Influencing Service Utilization: Perceived Need for Family Planning and Health Services and Their Relationship to Contraception Use, Number of Pregnancies and Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Kirsten Piroth, MPhil, Karen Trocki, PhD, Barbara Bunn-McCullough, PhD, Saki Cabrera Strait
Board 3Factors Related to Contraceptive Utilization by Minority Teen Parents
Nancy Amodei, PhD, Anthony Scott, PhD, Anna Madrigal, MA, Tom Pederson, MA
Board 4How to Make Mentor Programs a Positive Influence on Service Utilization by Teen Parents?
Sara-Ann Steber, MSS, MLSP, Lani L. Nelson-Zlupko, PhD
Board 5Low Levels of Service Use in a Group of Teenage Mothers: The Role of Identity Status in Perception of Service Needs
Roger Webb, PhD, Yvonne Bradshaw
Board 6Promotores: Bridging the Health Need/Health Service Gap
John M. Donahue, PhD, Terrence Tutchings, PhD, OZ White, PhD
Board 7Relationship Between Racial Identity, Quality of Life, and Self–perceptions Among Parenting Adolescent African–American Females
Harold Braithwaite, PhD, Alan Marks, PhD
Board 8Spatial and Social Dispersion, Support Networks, and Well-being among Pregnant and Parenting Teens in Low-wealth Communities in the Rural South
James R. McDonell, DSW, Sue Limber, PhD, Jennifer Connor, Lisa Phelan, MSW
Board 9The Index of Service Need: A Measure of Want and Waste among a Sample of Teen Moms
Barbara Sussex, MSW, LCSW, Kevin Corcoran, PhD, JD
Board 10Use of Family Planning Clinics and Contraceptives Among Teens Enrolled in the "Abuelas y Jovenes" Program
Catherine R. Higgins, PhD, Kay Armstrong, MS, Michelle Hinton, MPA
Sponsor:Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs
Cosponsors:Community Health Planning and Policy Development; Epidemiology; School Health Education and Services; Social Work; Women's Caucus

The 128th Annual Meeting of APHA