Discuss the interventions specific to nursing to correct the issue and the expected

outcomes that can be measured to determine success.

Most of what needs to be done for a pregnant teenager revolves around education, support,
healthcare, and providing options. Medical complications associated with adolescent pregnancy
include poor maternal weight gain, anemia, and pregnancy-induced hypertension. These
complications seem to be the greatest for the youngest adolescents. Poverty, lower educational
level, and inadequate family support seem to contribute to a lack of adequate prenatal care,
which may account for the majority of negative health outcomes for both the adolescent mother
and her child. Therefore, it would be imperative for a nurse to educate a pregnant teen about
nutrition during pregnancy, the importance of seeking prenatal care, free community support
options, government assistance for medical bills and food, and of course education on
preventing future pregnancies.

The National Association of School Nurses recognizes the importance of school nurses and the
interventions they may provide. School nurses play a key role in preventing poor pregnancy
outcomes (Platt, 2014) and improving educational outcomes by implementing the following
nursing interventions which are evidence-based and support the health and well-being of
pregnant and/or parenting students:
Provide health education;
*

Recognize signs of pregnancy;

Discuss reproductive options with the student;

Intervene to counter pregnancy denial;

Assist students and their families in making healthy choices;

Offer emotional support by fostering communication between parent and

[pregnant and/or parenting] student;

*

Advocate for comprehensive human development and sex education;

Develop activities that build on student assets;

Enhance student connections to school;

Link students to reproductive health services;

Connect to community education regarding the consequences of adolescent

pregnancy;

Build a support network for students including the core services of:

Developmentally appropriate childcare,

Preventive health care for infants and children,

Case management, and

Economic assistance. (Johnson, 2013)

Repeat births in adolescents have been linked to decreased educational achievement,

increased dependence on governmental support by the adolescent mother, increased infant
mortality, and low birth weight. These negative outcomes result in increased societal expense
and contribute to the continuation of the adolescent pregnancy cycle. In contrast to adult women

experiencing a second pregnancy, adolescents with a repeat pregnancy tend to delay prenatal
care. A second adolescent birth may be more detrimental to the teen mother and her offspring
by compounding negative socioeconomic impact and the influence of a short inter-pregnancy
interval. It must not be assumed that because a teenager has had a baby, she now knows how
to prevent future pregnancies properly. A nurse needs to be aware of this and create an
environment of trust so that the teen can feel free to ask questions and the nurse can feel free to
talk about sensitive subjects. The teen also might not have the means to pay for birth control
which a nurse needs to inquire about and then offer options for free services. A good outcome
for a pregnant teen would be one in which the teen is educated on important dietary needs,
encouraged to continue school, given access to preventative healthcare, given access to
parenting and childbirth classes, taught about birth control methods, and supported by family
and/or community. The baby in this circumstance would more likely be born healthy and there
would be a decreased risk for subsequent pregnancies, and maternal depression. (Pinzon,
Jones, 2012)

Preventative measures are always preferable to dealing with an unplanned teenage pregnancy.
To prevent teenage pregnancy and childbearing, teenagers must be educated about delaying
parenthood through early and comprehensive family life programs. Programs such as these
could be made available through schools, churches, and local community organizations.
Increased outreach services targeted toward those youth at highest risk for pregnancy must
focus on an adolescents need to understand the options available for contraception.

Discuss the need for education and the impact that education will have on your topic
Education is probably the most important factor in both preventing teen pregnancy and in
achieving the best possible outcomes in a teenage pregnancy. Researchers studied the
National Survey of Family Growth to determine the impact of sexuality education on youth
sexual risk-taking for young people ages 15-19, and found that teens who received
comprehensive sex education were 50 percent less likely to experience pregnancy than those
who received abstinence-only education. Researcher Douglas Kirby for the National Campaign
to End Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy examined studies of prevention programs and found
that two-thirds of the 48 comprehensive sex ed programs studied had positive effects.
*

40 percent delayed sexual initiation, reduced the number of sexual partners, or

increased condom or contraceptive use.

*

30 percent reduced the frequency of sex, including a return to abstinence.

60 percent reduced unprotected sex. (Kirby, 2001)

Clearly, sexuality education has an impressive result in preventing unprotected sex and teen
pregnancy.

As far as the affect education has on a teen once she is pregnant, lets first talk about the added
costs associated with teen pregnancies account for nearly $11 billion, paid for by tax-payers,
annually (About teen pregnancy, 2012). These costs are comprised of increased health care for
the mothers and children, foster care, incarceration, and loss of potential revenue. One of the

main causes of the monetary costs of teen pregnancies is the lack of education the teen
mothers receive. Teen mothers are significantly more likely to drop out of high school, resulting
in only 50 percent of teen mothers receiving a high school diploma by age 22, compared to
almost 90 percent of other teenage girls (National campaign to prevent teen and unwanted
pregnancy, 2011). In fact, teen pregnancy is the leading cause of females dropping out of high
school. Furthermore, less than 2 percent of teen mothers attain a college degree by age 30.
Because of their lower education status, teen mothers on average earn lower incomes than their
peers, and are thus more likely to be in poverty.

Children of teen mothers are also affected for the long-term. These children are more likely to
achieve lower than their peers, drop out of high school, have health problems, be jailed
sometime during their youth, and be unemployed as a young adult (Teen pregnancy and
education, 2010). Only about two-thirds of children born to teen mothers finish high school, as
opposed to 81 percent of children born to older parents. Throughout their entire education,
these children tend to struggle more and are 50 percent more likely to repeat a grade than
children of later-bearing parents. Perhaps the most disheartening of all statistics, though, is
children born to teen mothers are more likely to become teenage parents themselves,
perpetuating the cycle of poverty and poor education. (Bermudez, 2016) Think about the huge
shift in outcomes if a teenager were to remain in high school and continue her education after

that. A nurse who educates her client about the importance of staying in school and gives
available resources to help achieve that could possibly have an impact for generations.

According to Advance Healthcare Network for Nurses there is evidence that nursing homevisiting programs greatly improve certain outcomes which can include: Improved child and
maternal health, child development, school readiness, parenting practices, family economic selfsufficiency and reductions in child maltreatment. In the original research study, services were
delivered from pregnancy (26 weeks gestation or less) through the first year post-birth. The
outcomes of the programs for mothers and children were evaluated through 2 years post-birth.
The program offered approximately 17 home visits to high-risk pregnant young women from the
middle of pregnancy through the end of the child's first year. During pregnancy, visits revolved
around childbirth preparation, self-care and motherhood preparation. Early Intervention
Program mothers had fewer repeat pregnancies in the first 2 years after giving birth.
"The adolescent mothers receiving the early intervention program had low rates of preterm
births and a 15 percent reduction in repeat pregnancy compared to those receiving standard
care," Koniak-Griffin said. "Their children had improved decreased total days of infant
hospitalization during the first 2 years of life and a 96 percent rate of immunization in the first
year of life. They were also less likely to use the emergency room," she said. Substance use
also decreased significantly during pregnancy and never returned to the preconception levels
following childbirth. After the child was born, new moms received family planning education,
infant care, well-baby healthcare information and life skill building activities. (Puliti, 2012)

References:
Improving Teen Pregnancy Outcomes. (n.d.). Retrieved July 01, 2016, from
http://nursing.advanceweb.com/Features/Articles/Improving-Teen-Pregnancy-Outcomes.aspx

Pregnant and Parenting Students, The Role of the School Nurse (Revised June 2015). (n.d.).
Retrieved July 01, 2016, from
https://www.nasn.org/PolicyAdvocacy/PositionPapersandReports/NASNPositionStatementsFullV
iew/tabid/462/ArticleId/120/Pregnant-and-Parenting-Students-The-Role-of-the-School-NurseRevised-June-2015

Care of Adolescent Parents and Their Children. (n.d.). Retrieved July 01, 2016, from
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/130/6/e1743

Comprehensive Sex Education: Research and Results. (n.d.). Retrieved June 28, 2016, from
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/

Bermudez, S. (n.d.). Trends and Issues Wikipages for Summer 2016. Retrieved June 28, 2016,
from https://educationtrendsandissues.wikispaces.com/Teen Pregnancy and Education