Essay NURS FPX 4060 Assessment 1 Health Promotion Plan SC

NURS FPX 4060 Assessment 1 Health Promotion Plan SC

NURS FPX 4060 Assessment 1 Health Promotion Plan SC

NURS FPX 4060 Assessment 1 Health Promotion Plan SC

Teen Pregnancy Prevention Plan

This paper will outline a comprehensive plan of teen pregnancy prevention targeting the adolescent group, ages 15-19 years old. Evidence has shown that increasing this populations knowledge about the wide variety of contraceptive methods available and improving their access to high-quality contraceptive services is key to teen pregnancy prevention, (Mueller et al., 2017). For over 50 years family planning services have been on the forefront of community medicine. Increased federal funding has led to evidence-based program development which has led to the steady decline in teen birth rates in the United States 

since 1991.  

The Data

In 2010, teen pregnancy was declared one of seven “winnable battles” and named a public health priority by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Mueller et al., 2017). Various programs and funding were allocated to this health priority and studies have shown major declines of teen birth rates over the last decade. Despite this, the United State of America continues to have the highest teen pregnancy rate among developed nations (Mueller et al., 2017). According to Packham (2017) over 75% of teen pregnancies are unintended. Nearly 180,000 babies were born to teen girls ages 15 to19 years old in 2018, (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, n.d.). Many of these adolescent mothers are unprepared to take on the responsibility of raising a child and therefore rely on financial assistance from family, friends, and taxpayers. It is estimated that teen childbearing costs United States Taxpayers $9.4 billion dollars annually, not to mention other long-term consequences such as significantly high school drop-out rates, increased health problems and poorer life outcomes. 

NURS FPX 4060 Assessment 1 Health Promotion Plan SC

In addition to the socioeconomic burden teen pregnancy may have on the adolescent population there is also the concern for increased health risks. Adolescence is a time when youth develop romantic and sexual identities, if not careful this can lead to sexual risky behaviors and experiences with unintended health outcomes. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics report that nearly half of all new sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) reported (20 million annually) are among young people 15 to 24, including 21% of all new HIV diagnoses (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2021). If left untreated, STD’s can not only lead to an increased spread of diseases and but other long-term health concerns such as infertility or cervical cancer. 

Essay NURS FPX 4060 Assessment 2 Community Resources SC

Health Promotion Plan for Teens

In 2010, the Office of Adolescent Health and the Centers for Disease Control developed the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program, (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, n.d.). This is a national, evidence-based program that funds diverse organizations working to prevent teen pregnancy across the United States. Since implementation the program has trained over 11,000 professionals, established partnerships with over 3,600 community-based organizations and serves nearly 250,000 young people per year (Mueller et al., 2017). The TPP program key interventions were enhancing quality of and access to youth-friendly reproductive health services, educating stakeholders about TPP, working with youth in communities most at risk of teen pregnancy, and mobilizing the community to garner support, (Mueller et al., 2017). 

Long before the development of the TPP Program was the Title X Family Planning Grant, it was enacted in 1970 as part of the Public Health Service Act under President Nixon. This federal grant program was dedicated to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services. The subsidies offer lower-income families and the young population access to birth control and additional reproductive health services such as infertility services, STD screening and treatment, cancer screening, immunizations and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). 

NURS FPX 4060 Assessment 1 Health Promotion Plan SC

Despite the diligent efforts over the years teen pregnancy continues to be a concern for the United States. Recent studies show that prevention tactics must adapt to the youth of today. Social media and other online messaging has proven to be more successful than in person strategies. During a recent research experiment for the program SpeakOut, an intervention to increase teen communication about contraception, Barney et al. points out how an online approach resulted in a greater number of participants over a shorter period, saving on personnel and travel costs, and a broader geographical catchment area. 

Health Disparities and Barriers

As with many aspects to health care there are several health disparities and barriers associated with teen pregnancy. According to statistics released by the CDC, in 2019, the birth rates for Hispanic teens and non-Hispanic Black teens were over two times higher than the rate for non-Hispanic White teens (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, n.d.). Research has found that African-American and Latina youth are less likely to have insurance and access routine primary health care services, (Galloway et al., 2017). In addition to their limited access to health services, one research project shed light on the fact that African-American and Latina youth were also found to have altered perceptions of contraception and access to it. Information revealed from the research study conducted by Galloway et al. (2017) was that African American and Latina youth expressed the uncomfortable feeling of discussing sexual health with parents and or health care providers, therefore, turned to less reliable sources such as the internet and older siblings/friends/relatives. Galloway et al. (2017) also reviewed some misbeliefs about contraceptives African-American and Latina youth admitted to, for example, contraceptive commercials were more scary than informative, especially the potential “weight-gain” and other “weird side effects”. While others participants believed their parents would not allow them to use birth control or required parents’ consent in order to get it. 

Being an offspring of a teenage parent also plays a huge factor in teenage pregnancy rates. Studies show that the children of teen mothers have 2-3 times higher rates of early childbearing compared to those children born to older mothers, (Hendrick & Maslowsky, 2019). This is known as the intergenerational cycle of teenage motherhood. Teenage mothers historically attain lower levels of education which then results their children often growing up in lower-resource settings, with lower quality parent–child interactions, and have lower academic aptitude compared with children born to older mothers, (Hendrick & Maslowsky, 2019). These factors make it difficult for children of teenage mothers to break the intergenerational cycle. 

Breaking the Cycle

NURS FPX 4060 Assessment 1 Health Promotion Plan SC

Carmen Sanchez is a 33-year-old Hispanic mother of a 16-year-old daughter named Victoria. Carmen is a hardworking single mother who is doing her best to raise her daughter and prevent her from becoming another statistic. Because of her teenage pregnancy, Carmen dropped out of high school at age 16, she later went back to finish her education and got her GED. Carmen now works at a manager in a department store, however, she often works long hours and picks up extra shifts just to make ends meet. Given her mother’s demanding work schedule, Victoria is often home alone and has an abundance of social freedom.

             After a recent physical, Carmen has just learned that her daughter is sexually active and also needed treatment for chlamydia. This news was a shock to Carmen, she thought she had an open relationship with her daughter and had done a good job of educating her daughter on safe sex practices. This experience was a wakeup call for both mother and daughter, how were they going to come together and help prevent Victoria from going down the same path her mother? Victoria had dreams of going to college and Carmen wanted better for her daughter than the life she had created. 

The first course of action was to discuss birth control options. Victoria had admitted that she relied on her boyfriend to use condoms during her previous sexual encounters. Victoria had agreed to an appointment with a nurse practitioner where both she and her mother would go together to learn and decide which contraception was best for her. This appointment was very educational for both, it also helped open the lines of communication between mother and daughter. Now that Victoria’s secret was in the open and Carmen showed her support for her daughter, Carmen hoped this experience would prompt Victoria to come to her in confidence in future dilemmas. Not only did Victoria now have a more comfortable relationship with her mother, she now knew how to access medical care and had established a trusting relationship with a healthcare provider to whom she can turn to in the future.  

Given that Victoria has no plans to get pregnant in the next five years, she chose an IUD as her preferred method of contraceptive. In her discussion with the Nurse Practitioner, Victoria learned while the IUD will help her from becoming pregnant, it will not prevent her from contracting another STD. Victoria has realized that she cannot rely on her boyfriend in the future to always have condoms available. Victoria She has accepted a free supply from the nurse practitioner to have on hand in the future. Besides using condoms for STD prevention, Victoria has realized the importance of regular for STD testing. She was shocked to learn of her positive results of chlamydia as she had no symptoms. She was fortunate to only have contracted chlamydia, a curable infection, and not Herpes or HIV which are lifelong. She agrees that regular testing allows for timely diagnoses and treatment and prevent spread of STD’s. 

NURS FPX 4060 Assessment 1 Health Promotion Plan SC

Carmen and Victoria have beat the odds this far. This experience allowed them the opportunity toa more healthy mother daughter relationship while also becoming more knowledgeable in sexual health. Carmen has encouraged her daughter to share her experience and newly gained knowledge with her peers to help spread accurate information sex, contraceptives and STD’s. They hope by doing to this, it will help prevent teen pregnancy amongst her friend circle. 

Conclusion

The only guaranteed way to prevent teen pregnancy completely would be for this population to abstain from sex completely. Realistically we know this will not be the case, therefore, open lines of communication and access to health care are essential. Teens require a fresh approach on outreach, using platforms they frequent such as social media or school education system may be the key to success. It is important that resources and evidence-based programs continue to develop nationwide, this will only further reduce our treen pregnancy rates and given the youth the best opportunity to have successful futures.

References

Barney, A., Rodriguez, F., Schwarz, E. B., Reed, R., Tancredi, D., Brindis, C. D., Dehlendorf, C., & Tebb, K. P. (2021). Adapting to changes in teen pregnancy prevention research: Social media as an expedited recruitment strategy. Journal of Adolescent Health. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.12.140

Brown, S. S. (2020). What will it take to further reduce teen pregnancy in the U.S.? Journal of Adolescent Health, 66(5), 522–523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.02.009

Galloway, C. T., Duffy, J. L., Dixon, R. P., & Fuller, T. R. (2017). Exploring African-American and Latino teens’ perceptions of contraception and access to reproductive health care services. Journal of Adolescent Health, 60(3, Suppl), S57–S62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.12.006

Hendrick, C. E., & Maslowsky, J. (2019). Teen mothers’ educational attainment and their children’s risk for teenage childbearing. Developmental Psychology, 55(6), 1259–1273. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000705

Mueller, T., Tevendale, H. D., Fuller, T. R., House, L. D., Romero, L. M., Brittain, A., & Varanasi, B. (2017). Teen pregnancy prevention: Implementation of a multicomponent, community-wide approach. Journal of Adolescent Health, 60(3, Suppl), S9–S17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.11.002

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d.). Reproductive Health: Teen Pregnancy. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved August 12, 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/index.htm

Packham, A. (2017). Family planning funding cuts and teen childbearing. Journal of Health Economics, 55, 168–185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2017.07.002

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (n.d.). Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program. https://opa.hhs.gov/grant-programs/teen-pregnancy-prevention-program-tpp/about-tpp

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2021, May 14). Sexual Risk Behaviors Can Lead to HIV, STDs, & Teen Pregnancy. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/sexualbehaviors/