HA599 Unit 9 Discussion

Mitchelle Baker

A Capstone Presented in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Healthcare Administration

PURDUE UNIVERSITY GLOBAL

October 2019

Introduction

It is worth noting that in 2015, Mississippi was ranked third in terms of the states with the highest teen birthrate in the USA. More pointedly, the teen birth rate in this country was almost twice that of the national average during that year. Mainly, this represents 34.8 births in the state per one thousand teens Vs. 22.0 births per 1000 adolescent girls in the whole of the USA. Never the less, most of the children born by the teenage mothers perform poorly in the schools. They also have lower birth weights and suffer a high risk of being neglected or abused. The good news is that Mississippi has perceived a decline in adolescent pregnancies since 2009. However, the rate of teen birth has continued to be one of the highest in the USA. Adolescent pregnancies and teen births attract some costs. For example, approximately four-fifths of the expenditure in Mississippi on teen births are associated with mothers below the age of 18. Also, in 2010, taxpayers suffered teen childbearing costs amounting to $ 137 million (Mississippi State Department of Health, 2015). This essay will discuss the use and application of findings as well as recommendations of the research on the rate of teen pregnancy in Mississippi.

Use and Application of Findings

The use and application of the findings may result in the reduction of teenage pregnancies in Mississippi. It will also help in enhancing positive outcomes and teenage mothers and their children. Also, the findings may contribute to the formation of more stringent policies regarding teenage pregnancies in Mississippi.

Recommendation 1

Statistical data and research show that most of the Mississippi teenage girls are likely to become pregnant because they do not have access to sex education information. Also, most of the girls become pregnant because they lack access to health services that would enable them to make informed decisions regarding their sexual habits. That said, preventing teen pregnancy in Mississippi would involve the introduction of teenage pregnancy prevention programs. Mainly, TPPPs are grouped into two categories. These include the abstinence-plus and abstinence-only TPPPs. Abstinence-only TPPPs are only concerned with discussions about character and values. It also incorporates education on behaviors that promote and encourage abstinence from sex and not safer sex education. On the other hand, abstinence-plus TPPPs involve deeper discussions about the concepts of sex education, the context of sex and also aims at defining contraceptives (McConnell-Smith, 2015).

Notably, most of the pregnancy cases are associated with teenage girls in high school. TPPPs have been considered as one of the most effective methods of preventing teen pregnancy in Mississippi because they enable the students to have a positive influence. They also provide teenage girls with a concise and structured curriculum that has an abstinence approach to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Further, the program encourages group discussions in classroom settings among teenage girls who hold open discussions about the risks and experiences of teenage pregnancy. Moreover, the program offers an effective support framework for communication where teenage girls are given the freedom of choosing the best way to hold their discussions (Marseille et al., 2018). Another advantage of TPPPs is that they apply various instructional methods which are crucial because one method may not be applicable or effective to all adolescent girls. As such, the TPPPs cater to different needs of the participants involved since they are free to adopt the methods that work out best for them. However, some of the areas that require improvement throughout the program are aspects concerning scheduling, school staff and also parent buy-in (McConnell-Smith, 2015).

Recommendation 2

Another recommended intervention for preventing teenage pregnancy in Mississippi is the application of the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy like the one adopted in the UK. Primarily, this initiative involves an inter-sectoral, complex and multi-component solution that contains effective strategies for preventing teenage pregnancies in the UK. Noteworthy, the strategy contains three primary components. The first component covers the whole government approach to the administration on the issue of teenage pregnancy prevention. Mainly, this covers the areas governed by different task forces including those in the ministries’ departments. Such areas span from the departments of education, health, and employment. The efforts of these departments in reducing teenage pregnancy are monitored by an independent national advisory board. However, its implementation is done by funded local and regional partnership boards as well as service coordinators.

The second element in the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy involves prevention efforts. Such efforts include aspects such as offering quality education about relationships and sex in schools as well as creating awareness about effective contraception among adolescent girls and boys. This element also focuses its efforts on sensitizing the at-risk groups and young males through extensive media campaigns which also involve separate segments for both parents and the young people. The last component of this strategy entails offering support to teenage parents and pregnant teenagers. Mainly, this support is aimed to assist both expectant teenagers and teenage parents in completing school (Skinner & Marino, 2016). The component contains frameworks that assist teenage mothers and expectant girls in accessing housing which also contains in-home support for them and their children.

According to Skinner & Marino (2016), the reduction of teenage pregnancies has been reported through the application of Teenage Pregnancy Strategy. The strategy is also considered as the best approach towards enhancing outcomes among teenage mothers at the national level. Conversely, the program contains many components that make it challenging to perceive the components and strategies that are more effective than others when a careful assessment is not done. However, a combination of relationship and sex education, social inclusion strategy and improved access to contraception are some of the crucial elements required in the efforts to reduce teen pregnancy. Additionally, another multi-strategy program involving improved access to contraception and sex education has proven to be successful in reducing cases of self-reported pregnancies especially in the USA (Skinner & Marino, 2016).

Recommendation 3

Mississippi and Louisiana are some of the states in the USA reported having the highest rates of teenage pregnancies which also have potential negative outcomes to the mothers and children. However, one of the recommended strategies for reducing pregnancy rates is the use of contraception. The most effective form of contraception is the long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) that have been approved for use on adolescent girls. LARCs include the subdermal implants and intrauterine devices that are highly recommended as first-line contraception for adolescent girls and also adult women. Despite its effectiveness; the application of LARCs is very low among adolescents. Particularly, it is because of the presence of barriers to its use including things like lack of provider knowledge, high costs and also lack of patient education. As such, it is crucial to ensure that nurses offering LARCs education and also contraception are knowledgeable about the LARC methods to recommend for application by the teenage girls (McClellan, Temples & Miller, 2018).

Recently, there has been an increased expansion of contraception options used by women for example use of Long-acting reversible contraception. LARCs have been considered highly effective and they offer additional advantages such as being convenient for use and also being cost-effective. In essence, LARCs are highly desired because they are long-lasting and highly preferred by users. Also, LARCs are more effective compared to the user-depended and shorter-term methods that are associated with greater risk of noncompliance. On this point, LARC methods do not necessarily require remembering as it is in the use of other forms of contraception such as the pill-taking regimen, visiting a clinician to get an injection, changing the ring or changing the patch. As such, implants and IUDs have been reported as the most effective techniques of contraception throughout the world. More pointedly, the efficacy of LARC methods is highly preferred because they are all estrogen-free. Estrogen is the primary hormone that is responsible for thromboembolic events (Stoddard, McNicholas, & Peipert, 2011).

From such information, the government in Mississippi should consider implementing the three recommendations since they have been scientifically tested and proven for their efficacy. Also, Mississippi should secure enough resources and funds to ensure that the use of the above strategies is a success in the country.

References

Marseille, E., Mirzazadeh, A., Biggs, M. A., Miller, A. P., Horvath, H., Lightfoot, M., ... & Kahn, J. G. (2018). Effectiveness of school-based teen pregnancy prevention programs in the USA: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Prevention Science, 19(4), 468-489.

McClellan, K., Temples, H., & Miller, L. (2018). The Latest in Teen Pregnancy Prevention: Long-Acting Reversible Contraception. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 32(5), e91-e97. doi:10.1016/j.pedhc.2018.02.009