207150 Adolescent Pregnancy and Delayed Prenatal Care in Westerly, RI

Monday, November 9, 2009

Victor Long, BS , Bio-Med, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI
Susan Orban, LICSW , Washington County Coalition for Children, Narragansett, RI
Louise Kiessling, MD , Washington County Coaltion for Children, Narragansett, RI
Edward Feller, MD, FACP , Departments of Medicine and Community Health, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI
Background: The US has the highest rate of births to teens among all industrialized countries. Rhode Island (RI) has the highest rate in New England. Teen pregnancy is associated with delayed prenatal care, a known risk factor for pre-maturity, low-birth weight infants, infant mortality. Westerly, RI , stands apart from "peer" cities based on perceived anomalous findings of higher rates of both delayed prenatal care and teen pregnancy compared to the entire state (for 18-19 age group, 66.1 vs. 43.2 per 1000 births). Our goal was to assess contributing factors, gaps in services and barriers to care. We designed a survey for Westerly teens and teen parents to delineate attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors surrounding teen pregnancy and delayed prenatal care.

Methods: Semi-structured key informant interviews of community stakeholders were conducted. We identified themes related to maternal-child health needs to prepare a self-administered survey for teens and young mothers, to be distributed at locations such as community health centers.

Results: We identified five predominant themes from key informant interviews to address in surveys: (1) transportation; (2) healthcare attitudes and beliefs ; (3) access to services; (4) health literacy/promotion; (5) linkages to new and existing services.

Discussion: Examining the interaction between adolescent pregnancies and delayed prenatal care may improve maternal-child health. Five themes were generated from key informant interviews to address concerning health indicators in Westerly. Generation of a parent survey will help elucidate potential future interventions including school-based health clinics, family planning services, after school programs, and employment opportunities.

Learning Objectives:
1. Understand gaps in services and barriers to care for pregnant teenagers. 2. Design a survey to assess knowledge, attitudes and behaviors surrounding teen pregnancy and delayed prenatal care.

Keywords: Teen Pregnancy, Prenatal Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I'm currently a medical student at Alpert Medical School of Brown University and completed a clinical rotation in Community Health which helped to create, research, analyze, and evaluate my current project. I have studied the primary articles that have motivated the study, reviewed vital statistics. I have a BS from Brown University, completed an Honors Thesis in Cognitive Neuroscience, with an extensive background in both clinical and basic lab research.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Sexual Health in Adolescent and College-aged Populations
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