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Essay Instructions: Teen Pregnancy in Rural United States
Focus: Vermilion Parish, Louisiana

Required Readings:

1. A Qualitative Evaluation of the Students of Service (SOS) Program for Sexual Abstinence in Louisiana
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=7&hid=21&sid=ee3eae28-3a8b-4f67-86a7-11b315149fdd%40SRCSM2

2. Today’s Pregnancy Teen. How can Health Care Professionals Combat this Prevalent Pandemic?
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=7&hid=7&sid=9b2e15e6-5c06-41e1-920e-c2dc54a6b88c%40SRCSM1

3. Sexual Health Statistics for Teenagers and Young Adults in the United States
http://www.kff.org/womenshealth/upload/3040-03.pdf

Suggested Readings:

1. An Overview of Adolescent Pregnancy in Rural Areas
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext//PDFSTART

2. American Opinion on Teen Pregnancy and Related Issues 2007
http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/resources/pdf/SS/SS31_AmericanOpinion.pdf


Lecture Notes:

I. Definition and Statistics
a. The topic of teen pregnancy refers to the number of live
births to mothers ages 15-19
b. About 1/3 of girls will become pregnant before age 20
c. In 2006, a total of 435,427 infants were born to mothers aged
15–19 years, a birth rate of 41.9 per 1,000 women in this age group
d. The United States continues to have the highest percentage of
unintended teen pregnancies of any developed nation

II. Characteristics
a. Teen childbearing costs the United States at least $9.1 billion per year
b. 47% of teens say that their parents are the greatest influence on their decisions about sex
c. The majority of adults and teens feel that abstinence should be the message given in schools
d. About half of teens (48%) say they have never thought about what their life would be like if they got/ got someone pregnant as a teen

III. Rural Louisiana’s approach to preventing teen pregnancy
a. In 1996 Louisiana ranked 42nd among 50 states for teen births, with 67 teen births per 1,000 females aged 15-19 compared to 54 nationally
b. In Louisiana state law prohibits contraceptive education in schools and only abstinence can be promoted
c. Students of Service (SOS) program was initiated in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana
i. Randomly selected seventh, eighth and ninth grade classes
ii. Volunteer peer mentors were selected and trained by an on site social worker and school counselor in monthly training sessions prior to each classroom implementation
iii. Abstinence only was taught by these peer mentor groups
iv. Results of the study showed that the abstinence only education did not impact the number of pregnant teens in Vermilion Parish



IV. Risk Factors
a. Children of teen mothers are more likely to face greater challenges
i. Earn less money
ii. Have lower level of education
iii. Suffer higher rates of child abuse and neglect
iv. Grow up poor
v. Live in Single-Parent Households
vi. Enter the Child Welfare System
vii. Be teen parents themselves


V. Health Problems
a. One quarter of all sexually active high school students report using drugs or alcohol during their last sexual encounter
b. Nearly one in 10 high school students report having experienced dating violence (9%) or having been physically forced to have sexual intercourse in their lifetime (8%)
c. Approximately one in four sexually active young adults ages 15 to 24 contracts an STD each year
d. Lack of access to health care for teens is a problem for both the teenage mother and her baby
i. lack of health insurance
ii. lack of transportation to and from appointments
iii. fear about seeking care

VI. Interventions
a. Teens who have higher educational aspirations are more likely to delay onset of sexual activity and/or use contraception to avoid unwanted pregnancies
b. Health educators should continue efforts to bring age appropriate sexuality education to students at least at the beginning of middle school
c. Many programs exist in attempt to prevent teen pregnancy although each state has its own rules and regulations regarding which information may be taught in school
d. It is vitally important that parents understand that they play a large role in the decisions that their children will make regarding sexual behavior


Please answer these questions using the readings and lecture notes above.

Discussion Questions:

1. After reading the above articles, which type of sex education program do you think is most appropriate for rural teens?
2. Should the education differ from that of urban teens? Why or why not? If so, how should the education be tailored to meet the needs of the rural teen?

Essay Instructions: Teen Pregnancy
The following are directions to write the narrative description of your field project. You may attach as appendices any charts, tables, or other materials (labeled with the source identified per APA format). The document should be a minimum of 7 pages and no more than 10 pages, not including the cover sheet, reference page(s) or appendices. Use the headings in the outline below as the headings for your written paper.
ASSESSMENT
1. Identification of geographical area, e.g., county, city, town.
a. Area size
b. Population size
c. Demographics
d. Community genogram/profile reflecting health status
e. Physical and social environment
2. Health concern
a. Background in relation to Healthy People 2020 (2010) and local public health data that characterizes this health concern
b. Data from national, state, and/or local level related to the health concern
3. Population of interest
a. Gender
b. Age
c. Demographics including socioeconomic status and educational level
d. Describe how this health concern is linked to a health inequity for the population of interest. Use data to support your conclusion.
4. Community resources/partners currently involved with the health concern
a. Mission, activities, progress/lack of progress toward resolving the health concern based on website, interview, data, etc
DIAGNOSIS
1. Describe aspects of the health concern not being addressed despite the efforts of the partners involved.
OUTCOMES IDENTIFICATION
1. Briefly describe the ultimate outcome(s) or goal(s) for improvement related to the health concern
PLANNING
1. What nursing actions do you recommend to improve the health concern? How might you and other nurses work with the community and the population of interest to improve the health concern. Select primary and secondary prevention activities only. Use the Minnesota intervention wheel as an aid in selecting the broad areas for nursing action.
2. What partnerships should nursing form in the planning for implementing the recommendations? Identify both public and private (non-profit or community based organizations) partnerships.
c. What would be the overall objective(s) for implementing these activities and the timelines for expected outcomes?
EVALUATION
1. How would you evaluate whether the efforts to improve the health concern were effective? What tools might you use to do this evaluation?
SUMMARY
1. Summarize how your perspective of the community’s or the public’s health and the national, state and local efforts toward a healthier population has changed as a result of your work in this course of study.

Essay Instructions: Item 1: Literature review and annotated bibliography

Length: 1000 Words

This is a two part assignment. The two parts are:

1. A brief literature review of 500-750 words which explores the themes which are shown in the literature surrounding the particular topic. It is expected that you will do the research that will be needed for your essay, and in a few paragraphs show the different ways in which writers have approached the issues and problems which arise. The essay topics are very broad, so this will enable you to see many of the different views of researchers and the data that they have gathered to make their points. The themes are ways of identifying similar or different approaches.

2. The annotated bibliography is a short document in which at least five items are cited with accurate reference details using Harvard reference style. Each annotation consists of a paragraph of about 50 words which provides a brief description of the contents of the item, a concise statement of the central argument, an indication as to why this paper is relevant to the topic and a brief evaluation of the usefulness of the piece of writing.
It is expected that all papers, books, websites or documents used in the literature review will be included in a reference list (Harvard style ) at the end of the document. This does include repeating the citations for those articles selected for the annotated bibliography. You may have as many references as you like, but you will need at least seven (including those from the annotated bibliography). Remember that you will be able to use this list with your essay, although it might be a good idea to add some as well to that assignment.

Which approach (life experience, transitions or emerging adulthood) is most useful in exploring teenage pregnancy?

You would need to select the approach you think is most effective? Some people may argue that a young person's life experience gives insights into teenage pregnancy; others may argue that particular transitions present major issues and pressures which in turn, may influence areas of teenage pregnancy.

From your own opinion and based on your research which do you think is the most useful?

There are faxes for this order.

Essay Instructions: It is An argument essay about Teen Pregnancy. Must have personal opnion (surely against it, condom should be given away for free to Teens so they can protect themselves from STDS or getting Pregnant. Needs to have facts as well to prove how it's been out of control.(to inform).