People think it couldn't happen here: A rapid, low cost assessment of teen pregnancy in a rural county for action

In the fall of 2009, the Translational Advisory Board (TAB) of Gillespie County was approached by a group of public health graduate students from the University of Texas School of Public Health (UTSPH) concerning a collaborative community assessment. The TAB is supported through the Community Engagement Core of the Institute for Integration of Science and Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio. The TAB requested that the student group examine a possible rise in teen pregnancy in the local community. The UTSPH student group investigated the local community to examine: 1) Number and rate of teen pregnancies since 2006, 2) Local attitudes toward teen pregnancy and sex education. The assessment used three types of data: 1) Quantitative community data from schools and healthcare providers 2) Interviews with community individuals, and 3) Survey data collected from community leaders. The techniques used to identify hidden data sources and analyze teen pregnancy trends are both low cost and easily replicable. Additionally, social norms presented significant barriers to interviewing community members about teen pregnancy and sexuality. Through the use of video and audio taped interviews subsequently developed into a documentary, the UT SPH student group reflected to the community the attitudes and opinions of their neighbors. The marriage of quantitative data with qualitative was essential in translating findings on this sensitive topic to a rural audience.