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Healthy People 2030 Goal: Adolescent Pregnancy
Kayla Fridley, RN
Indian River State College
NUR4636: Community Health Nursing
Professor Jennifer Doak
December 1, 2022
Healthy People 2030 Goal: Adolescent Pregnancy
“Being a pregnant teen can be scary, confusing, and overwhelming” (American Pregnancy Association, 2022, para. 1) Adolescent pregnancy is a well-known concern for community health nursing. Community health nurses must assess the contributing factors of adolescent pregnancy in order to come up with a solution to assist in the aid of improving the issue. Teenage pregnancy is not an easy task, the mothers may have a hard enough time adjusting through the life of a teen and to add in pregnancy can really make everything much harder.
The contributing factors can include lack of sex education in the home or schools and resources for protection such as birth control or condoms. Middle schools typically begin the education of pubescence and then in high school they typically start the sexual education in high school. If schools don’t and parents don’t then the adolescents are out that education unless they know how to reach out to local resources. “State sex education standards in public schools vary widely. According to a study from the National Institutes of Health, only about half of adolescents receive school instruction about contraception before they first have sex” (Shapiro et al., 2018, p.1 para. 3).
” The US teen birth rate (births per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19 years) has been declining since 1991. Teen birth rates continued to decline from 17.4 per 1,000 females in 2018 to 16.7 per 1,000 females in 2019. This is another record low for US teens and a decrease of 4% from 2018. Birth rates fell 7% for females aged 15 to 17 years and 4% for females aged 18 to 19 years” (Centers for Disease Control [CDC], 2021, para.1).
“Though women are able to give birth as soon as they begin menstruating, there are some possible risks when you have a child early on in your teen years” (American Pregnancy Association, 2018). Risks associated with teen pregnancy are low birth weights (generally related to preterm), lack of knowledge to care for a newborn, and infant/mother mortality.
Healthcare Issues
One of the biggest healthcare concerns in adolescent pregnancy is the mortality rate. Several adverse perinatal outcomes have been associated with adolescent pregnancies, specifically, pre-eclampsia, preterm birth, low birth weight babies, and an increase in stillbirths, intrapartum deaths, and miscarriages (Leftwich, Alves, 2017, pg. 3). Another common issue is repeat pregnancies in the adolescent population. Adolescent mothers have high rates of repeat pregnancy: 25% become pregnant again within 1 year of delivery and 35% within 2 years (Leftwich, Alves, 2017, pg. 5). Adolescent mothers who have pregnancies are less likely to follow through with perinatal care and have positive birth outcomes.
Culture, Legal, and Ethical issues
There are no legal issues with adolescent pregnancy, however the adolescent can face consequences for truancy in school. “Pregnant and parenting teens often face challenges balancing their school, work, and home lives with being a new parent. Teen parents are at increased risk for dropping out of school, unemployment, poverty, mental health issues, and childcare concerns” (Supporting teens, n.d.). In some cultures, it is frowned upon to get pregnant before marriage, however in others it is ok. The Hispanic culture they tend to have large families and it is ok to get pregnant before marriage. “According to an analysis by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, the estimated national cost of teen childbearing in the United States for taxpayers (federal, state, and local) is at least $9.4 billion per year” (Nies et al., 2019 pg. 303).
Community Resources
There are tons of community and online resources available for pregnant adolescents. In the Lake City area there is a place called the pregnancy care center to provide education on becoming a new parent, different options for the young parents, and services such as pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, and counseling. There is also a local health department that can provide information on WIC and insurance needs for the young parents to ensure adequate nutrition and the ability to see doctors is available.
Level of Prevention
Prevention starts with education. “According to a study from the National Institutes of Health, only about half of adolescents receive school instruction about contraception before they first have sex (Shapiro et al., 2018). Adolescents can also utilize local resources such as the health department to get birth control and free condoms. Our staff offers information on abstinence and natural family planning methods; as well as providing Depo-Provera, birth control pills, contraceptive film, and condoms (both male and female). Staff members explain the benefits of using each method to allow our clients to make the best possible decisions (Clinical Services, n.d.). The local pregnancy care center in Lake City provides lots of services as well as education on prevention. Parents also play a huge role in preventing adolescent pregnancy by being available for them to communicate and learn about safe sex. Parents should also be educating them about the risks that come along with adolescent pregnancy.
Wellness plan/ Nursing process
To assess the population of adolescent teens the patient, family, and community must be accounted for. Some things to consider when assessing the pregnant teen would be medical risk factors, understanding and acceptance of pregnancy, and health insurance status (Nies et al, 2019). While assessing the family things to consider are ability to provide financial support, safety of household/ neighborhood, and the willingness of the father to provide support (Nies et al.,2019). While assessing the community factors to look out for are childcare availability, health and social services coordination, and educational opportunities for pregnant and parenting teenagers (Nies et al., 2019). After assessing the patient, family, and community then the process of diagnosing begins. A potential diagnosis for this population would be Inadequate knowledge related to lack of information about prenatal care. Most adolescents are afraid to talk to their parents about their pregnancy or about being sexually active. For the adolescent teens during the diagnosis part of the nursing process all three categories should be taken into consideration with short- and long-term goals included to correlate with diagnoses. Once the goals have been set in place the interventions to achieve the goals are implemented. The final step of the nursing process would be to go through how to prevent this situation from reoccurring in the future through primary, secondary, and tertiary care.
Nursing Theorist
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, November 15). About teen pregnancy. https://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/about/index.htm
Clinical services. Women’s Health | Florida Department of Health in Columbia. (n.d.). Retrieved October 17, 2022, from https://columbia.floridahealth.gov/programs-and-services/clinical-and-nutrition-services/womens-health/index.html
Editor. (2022, July 6). Pregnant teen. American Pregnancy Association, from https://americanpregnancy.org/options-for-unplanned-pregnancy/pregnant-teen/
Leftwich, H. K., & Alves, M. V. (2017). Adolescent Pregnancy. Pediatric clinics of North America, 64(2), 381–388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcl.2016.11.007
Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M. (2019). Community/Public Health Nursing: Promoting the health of Populations (7th ed.). Elsevier.
Shapiro, S., & Brown, C. (2018, May 9). Sex education standards across the States. Center for American Progress. R https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED602826.pdf
Supporting pregnant and Parenting Teens. Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Teens – Child Welfare Information Gateway. (n.d.) https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/preventing/promoting/parenting/pregnant-teens/