What do adolescent parents need to prevent repeat pregnancy? A qualitative investigation

ABSTRACT

Adolescent mothers and their families are vulnerable to a range of problematic outcomes, including the public health problem of repeat adolescent pregnancy. Repeat adolescent pregnancy can cause reproductive health problems and further hinders the adolescent’s ability to finish high school, achieve economic independence, and successfully care for a young child. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of current strategies to prevent repeat adolescent pregnancy is limited. This qualitative study aimed to understand the needs of pregnant and newly parenting adolescents related to interventions and contraceptive strategies to delay repeat pregnancy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 adolescents (age 14–17; 90% Black; 10% White). The young women interviewed were enrolled in a residential program with the mission of providing housing and services to at-risk, socioeconomically disadvantaged pregnant and parenting adolescents. Themes emerged from the interviews that provided insight into the adolescent’s varied needs related to, as well as reasons for lack of openness to, sexual health education and contraceptive counseling. Peers appeared to be important sources of influence and often shared negative information about contraceptive use. Implications are discussed related to delivery of sexual health education and contraceptive counseling to adolescent parents.

KEYWORDS:

• Repeat adolescent pregnancy
• prevention
• qualitative

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.