Assets and Barriers: A multi method community assessment of teen pregnancy

Purpose:

Teen pregnancy is a complex issue, which attracted a great deal of attention from service providers, educators, and policy makers in recent years. Science-based teen pregnancy prevention programs are funded in select high-risk communities in Massachusetts to provide evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention services. This presentation will share one-community multi method assessment related to teen pregnancy .

Methods:

The process consisted of  a youth online survey; focus groups with parents; teen mom survey; stakeholder interviews; and Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping.

Results:

Evaluation outcome show that teen birthrate in the community declined by 46.1% in the past ten years. The services in the city prioritize teen empowerment. GIS mapping visualize the location of high-risk populations, and location of services. Parents, teens and key informants recognize the existing problem of teen pregnancies in the community. Teens expressed the need for improved communication with their parents along with sexual education from their schools. Parents expressed  challenges  to communicating with teens and support the need for groups geared towards parents. The key stakeholders supported career planning and college preparation to focus teens on reaching positive goals.

Conclusions:

A multi method diverse approach helps with leaning about the complexity of teen pregnancy and obtain more comprehensive information about the community.

Data from this assessment will assist the development of targeted and effective Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs, strengthen existing efforts, or better coordinate activities and referral networks so that all teens and their parents have access to a wide array of prevention services.