Increasing community will to recognize and change the risky behaviorsĬommunity collaboration which leads to consensus and strategies to create change that allow and shape the behaviors that can lead to teenage pregnancy (MacQueen, McLellan, Metzer, Kegeles, Strauss, Scotti, Blanchard, and Trotter 2011). Increasing an understanding of community social norms- “beliefs about what others do, and what others think we should do, within some reference group, maintained by social approval and disapproval” (United Nation’s International Children’s Fund, 2017). It will explore ways through which a health care leader can assess and determine community need:Īssessing the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of teenagers (both male and female) and the adults who surround the teenager at risk. This chapter will create the foundation for change as well as interface with other chapters in the book. It is the imperative of the health care organization and its leaders to engage with the community to create an environment where teenage pregnancy decreases, pregnancies that do occur are healthier for both mother and infant, and that teenage parenting results in stable, responsible, and nurturing families. There is also a need to identify and change risky behaviors into protective behaviors in order to influence behavior in both male and female teenagers, the peers and families that surround the teenager, and at all levels and systems of the community. The responsibility of the health care leader also extends beyond the walls of the organization to participation in a community’s engagement in the prevention of teenage pregnancy.īecause teenage pregnancy is such a pervasive, persistent, and complex issue it must include changes in the structure and process of how and what health care is available, accessible, affordable, and appropriate to the community need- all of which involve policy decisions within systems and communities, as well as nationally. That responsibility includes providing not only medical care, but also ensuring that counseling, financial assistance and education are available to all those impacted by a teen’s pregnancy. As a health care leader, a part of your responsibility is to improve the health of your community. Often, risk behaviors and their effects cluster to amplify the collateral damage that follows (Shugar, 2012).Īs a leader in any health care setting, it is important to recognize that teenage pregnancy also has economic, political, emotional, and spiritual impact on community, state and the nation. Low educational attainment and delayed graduation, life-long lowered income and dependency, decreased access to safe and affordable housing, lower academic scores, misbehavior and inappropriate behaviors (those that demonstrate internalized anger, sadness, need, etc.-such as personal and domestic violence, stealing, low grades) for the child in school can be the result. ![]() It has impact on the young woman, the father of the baby, both families and society at large. A teenage pregnancy is a life-changing event.
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