Abstinence-Only Education and Teen Pregnancy Rates, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Nurses regularly work with disadvantaged population, such as the young, those from low income backgrounds, and individuals that are unable to make their own decisions. Individuals that are considered vulnerable have restricted freedoms regarding their ability to make their own medical choices to some extent. For example, individuals under the age of 18 are at the liberty of their parents for medical decision making, while individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds are required to elect for the more affordable medical options. Individuals that are unconscious or mentally disabled must rely on the decision making skills of either themselves or their family members, unless their wishes had been previously specified. Despite these difficulties, it is the role of the health care professional to ensure that the needs of these individuals are being met and that each patient receives high quality care despite the barriers in their place (Atiola, 2014).

In the field of obstetrics, health care professionals regularly work with such vulnerable populations. Due to the ethical responsibility of nurses, these individuals often require specialized care. In particular, nurses are concerned about the vulnerability of adolescents who become pregnant because they are at high risk for complications relating to their ability to come to term with a healthy birth. Furthermore, these individuals are often unequipped with the necessary skills to take care of both themselves and their newborn child following the delivery. Therefore, nurses attempt to fill these gaps of knowledge by providing these individuals with education programs in addition to comprehensive care. In particular, these nurses must focus on subpopulations of these adolescents that come from low socioeconomic backgrounds. These individuals have a greater likelihood of suffering from complications related to their pregnancy, and it is therefore necessary to target these groups for primary prevention methods, in addition to ensuring that they are provided with the standard of care.

The DNP nurse plays an important role in identifying these populations. To do so, the nurse should be well aware of the current literature and evidence-based studies that discuss the types of problems that adolescents from low socioeconomic backgrounds encounter. Overall, women below the age of 18 that come from a low income background are at risk. It is also important to consider that children of women that were pregnant as adolescents are more likely to repeat this cycle. Furthermore, adolescents that come from less stable homes in addition to those that are more likely to date older men at higher risk. Understanding these risk factors are important because it helps nurses determine which individuals can reasonably be targeted for intervention (Edwards, 2009).

Nurses are responsible for providing equal care to all individuals, despite their age and income background. Therefore, it is necessary for the nurse to immerse him or herself in research relevant to the field. Furthermore, it is important for them to draw on the experience of other nurses so that all health care professionals could reasonably work together to solve important institutional problems. These collaborations help build positive effects in society because they often provide the background for nursing knowledge that had not existed previously. Nurses could then continue to build upon this knowledge in a manner that generally improves the state of both the field and the health care facility. This demonstrates the importance of evidence-based practice because ultimately, it will allow the nursing field to evolve, allowing health care professionals to help a greater amount of people as a result. However, it is important for future evidence based practices to be contingent upon prior evidence based studies to ensure that they are beneficial to the patients.

Identify a High Risk Population from Your Clinical Area at the Microsystem Level

Since adolescents from low socioeconomic backgrounds are the most likely to become pregnant, it is necessary to begin at the neighborhood level. Overall, the background that individuals come from are necessary to help them support their health. As stated earlier, when adolescents come from a background in which their mother has had a child as an adolescent, the daughter is more likely to go through this experience as well. Furthermore, individuals that date older men are more likely to become pregnant early. These factors related to neighborhood support because they are defined by the cultural normalities of an area. It would be generally less common for adolescents to be dating older men if they come from a high socioeconomic background because this behavior is looked down upon by the community and community members are actively involved in the lives of their children to help prevent against this occurrence (Stanger-Hall et al., 2011). However, in low income communities that community members are not as actively involved because they must focus on working and are less available to help with more menial aspects of society. Furthermore, adolescent pregnancies are somewhat common in these areas, so they are generally not seen to be a big deal.

Ultimately, this understanding of culture and connection with community can help nurses more significantly understand the risk of these populations. Since there is such a low support system in these communities, it is important for nurses to provide replacement support if they wish to intrinsically change the communities that they are working with. Overall, this problem cannot be resolved if interventions are not provided to this effect. Whether individuals are provided with support groups, free treatment clinics, or other help, it is important for them to understand the resources that they have available to them and the experiences of these women could be used to actively promote the health of other women in the community as well.

A major problem experienced in low income neighborhoods is the propagation of myths related to pregnancy. For example, I have heard patients say many things, such as that they believed that wearing two condoms is more effective than one and that the pull out method is effective. Because these myths are being spread throughout the community, there is a higher likelihood that these women will become pregnant because this information is simply not true. Therefore, an educational intervention would be beneficial because it would allow these women to understand that continuing to believe in these myths are contributing to the frequency of pregnancies of individuals in their neighborhoods. Therefore, it is important to correct these myths and provide these individuals with correct information so that these misconceptions could stop spreading immediately.

According to the epidemiological triangle, the agent that causes the disease is unprotected sexual intercourse (Yonkers et al., 2014). However, the cause could also be protected sexual intercourse in which the birth control method has failed. The disease causing agent can be related to the lack of education programs available in the community. The host is the adolescent who becomes pregnant, which is of higher likelihood if the individual is from a low socioeconomic background and has a low degree of community support. Last, the environment is the community and culture that raises these individuals with these health misconceptions and exposes them to a greater amount of the risk factors associated with pregnancy.

Adverse Health Outcomes

There are many adverse health outcomes related to adolescent pregnancy. Because women from lower income populations often believe in pregnancy myths and are more likely to engage in risky behaviors, they are more likely to become pregnant. Furthermore, their overall health is likely to be lower as a consequence of a lack of funds necessary to have regularly visited the doctor throughout their lives. These individuals typically experience only necessary care at hospitals or free clinics. Therefore, it is possible for the individuals to have many preexisting health conditions that they would not be aware of until they visit the hospital for their pregnancy or birth. Many of these individuals have no intention to become pregnant and must visit the clinic or hospital once this occurs. Therefore, they are not aware of any pregnancy related risk factors until this moment. Last, an associated complication for many pregnant adolescents is drug use. Drug use can make the successful pregnancy challenging for the health of both the mother and the unborn child, and extra care may need to be provided in these situations. Occasionally, child development is hindered as a result of drug use and expecting mothers are often not aware of this until the baby is delivered.

Following a successful delivery, the mother must be provided with education programs to serve as primary prevention to assist her with the health of her new child. It is the nurse’s responsibility to ensure that the new mother is equipped with all necessary knowledge, including the need for regular checkups, vaccinations, and implementation of nutrition plans. The lack of community support experienced by these individuals is often an important factor in this process because it is important for the nurse to consider that these patients may not receive any guidance or support at home. Therefore, it is helpful for them to bridge this gap of knowledge to ensure that the baby will remain in health despite the lack of available resources. Furthermore, this is an opportune moment for nurses to dispel myths related to pregnancy to reduce the risk that the mother will have an unintended pregnancy once again, which is also a relevant risk factor for this status.

Utilization of Epidemiology Principles and Terminology

As mentioned previously, there are many risk factors related to adolescent pregnancy. For example, a majority of adolescent pregnancies occur in individuals that are between 18 to 19 years of age (Maree et al., 2011). Individuals from low income communities are at a higher risk due to low support from family and community members in addition to cultural acceptance. A young age is an important risk factor as well because this reflects the vulnerability of the individual, who is often not confident in making her own decisions. Individuals who perform poorly in school are also more likely to become pregnant at a young age due to the poor choices that these individuals make, or due to their inabilities in some instances. Having an older male partner is a risk factor because this individual may coerce the woman into having intercourse before they are ready, resulting in a lack of proper protection if this occurs. Last, as mentioned previously, women who have already had a child as an adolescent are more likely to have another child as an adolescent if they are not provided with a proper education regarding women’s health.

It is important for health care professionals to determine individual that are at risk for adolescent pregnancy using these standards. There are often many secondary diagnoses related to the pregnancy, the most common of which is sexually transmitted disease, which may continue to have an impact on the mother and child’s health following the birth. Therefore, it is also helpful to provide women with information that allows them to take control of these disorders as well. Additional risk factors for members of this population include hypertension and premature delivery. While these may not be considered to be severe complications from individuals from high socioeconomic backgrounds, these problems could be particularly challenging for individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds who do not regularly attend checkups during their pregnancy. As a result, they are more likely to suffer from severe complications related to these health states. This could be easily prevented and treated, but patients must be able to come to a health care facility for this to be possible. It is therefore important for these women to be given a greater understanding of what is necessary to help them protect their health because this information could end up saving lives.

References

Atilola O. (2014). Where Lies the Risk? An Ecological Approach to Understanding Child Mental Health Risk and Vulnerabilities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Psychiatry Journal. Retrieved from http://www.hindawi.com/journals/psychiatry/2014/698348/\

Edwards LA. (2009). Teen Parents, Curriculum for Pregnant Teens. Journal of Nutrition, Education and Behavior, 41(1): 74.

Maree JG, Hansen E. (2011). Identifying and Dealing with the Adaptability Needs of an Unwed Pregnant Teenager. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 21(2): 211-219.

Stanger-Hall KF, Hall DW. (2011). Abstinence-Only Education and Teen Pregnancy Rates: Why We Need Comprehensive Sex Education in the U.S. PLOS One, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0024658

Yonkers KA, Ramin SM, Rush J, Navarette CA, Carmody T, March D, Hartwell SF, Leveno KJ/ (2014). Onset and Persistence of Postpartum Depression in an Inner-City Maternal Health   Clinic System. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 158(11): 1856-1863.