Teenage pregnancy is prevalent among adolescents who are the most socioeconomically disadvantaged. It further affects their depressed socioeconomic status, especially for the young mother, relatives, and the general public. Despite the poor socioeconomic condition, other social determinants of health play a crucial role in making teenage pregnancy a complex matter in society. Teenage pregnancy causes school dropout, with sixty percent of adolescent mothers failing to advance from high school. Additionally, a mere 2 percent manage to go through college by 30 years (Hines & Rios, 2021). The situation requires attention, and the health promotion plan is meaningful in addressing the concerns.
Underlying Assumptions and Points of Uncertainty
Many teenage pregnancy cases result from some societal assumptions. Some cultures assume that it is preferable to marry and bear children at a young age. These perceptions permeate even the most developed nations where over 39 percent and 12 percent of adolescents get married before 18 and 15 years of age, respectively (Fuller et al., 2018). In other instances, the teenagers elect to become mothers due to narrow learning and occupational scenarios. Such societies often value motherhood, and pregnancy may be the best of the existing few opportunities.
It is also assumed that adolescents have access to contraception. However, there are misconceptions and knowledge gaps on where to acquire contraceptive methods and how to use them. In addition, teenagers grapple with access barriers to contraception comprising obstructive laws and policies about providing contraception based on age or marital status. Some health workers also show bias and seem unwilling to own up to adolescents’ sexual health necessities (Orimaye et al., 2021). Some teenagers cannot access contraceptives because of financial barriers or lack of knowledge on the precise and dependable use of a contraceptive method. In the end, the young mothers become uncertain about their future and struggle to interpret their prospects.
Importance for Health Promotion
Teens need systematic health care services to be given wide-ranging sexual and procreative health therapy of the need to delay sexual activity. It is also important that they learn of the different methods of contraception. The young adults need counseling on the most fitting method applicable to every one of them including how to use it suitably and steadily. It is also important that adolescents’ parents and guardians be guided and informed on approaches to enable them hold discussions together on sex, contraception, pregnancy. Reducing the rate of teen pregnancies will ensure that the majority of adolescents will be able to attain higher educational levels. They will also find better employment prospects and earn incomes that will help to improve the living status of their families (Hines & Rios, 2021). The plan also will help to guide the women on the proper use of contraceptives, and more importantly, of the need to delay sexual activity.
Current Population Health Data
In the United States, the teen birth rate for females aged 15 to 19 years has declined from births per 1,000 in 1991. In 2018 the teen birth rate had reached 17.4 per 1,000 females and further declined to 16.7 per 1,000 females in 2019 (Orimaye et al., 2021). However, the country has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in developed countries. It is also characterized by correlations between high and persistent teen birth rates across different geographic and racial/ethnic identities, as described in figure 1 below. Therefore, the high and persistent variations in teen births call for the desire to implement a health promotion plan to help improve the current situation. The primary health institution in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), proclaimed in 2010 the desire to win the battle against teen pregnancy (Hines & Rios, 2021). It was declared a public health priority because of its potent large-scale bearing on health and the disposal of well-established and effective evidence-based interventions.
Importance of Establishing Agreed-upon Health Goals in Collaboration with Hypothetical Participants
The health promotion plan intends to ensure that some change or improvement is realized in the lives of teen mothers from time to time. Agreed-upon health goals provide the much-needed desire and inspiration to help in gathering the required drive to make the desired change. The goals provide an effective way of focusing effort and attention on the significant elements (Orimaye et al., 2021). They define the vision of how the life of adolescents would be if they do not become teen mothers. Hence, the goals are predisposed to increase the time and the energy expended in defined activities and develop the most operative strategies to attain those goals.
Working in partnership helps ensure there is wide acceptance of the goals and the program is acceptable to the majority of the participants. A wider pool of participants helps address the problem and exclude differences sufficiently. Team efforts guides in identifying the goals that are practicable to address, and partners come to be effectively engaged (Fuller et al., 2018). Partners are further well situated to influence those goals by providing a more comprehensive outlook far and beyond the purview of public health. Some of the essential considerations applicable include the economic opportunities of the young girls. Nonetheless, challenges are bound to occur in creating the goals and sustainability of the collaboration. The difficulties may arise from varied missions and goals, different levels of capability, not the same priority peoples, and the institutional culture of each participant involved.
References
Fuller, T. R., White, C. P., Chu, J., Dean, D., Clemmons, N., Chaparro, C., Thames, J. L., Henderson, A. B., & King, P. (2018). Social Determinants and Teen Pregnancy Prevention: Exploring the Role of Nontraditional Partnerships. Health promotion practice, 19(1), 23–30. Web.
Hines, B., & Rios, K. (2021). Shared disadvantage as a determinant of the relationship between White Americans’ socioeconomic status and racial/ethnic prejudice. European Journal of Social Psychology. Published. Web.
Orimaye, S. O., Hale, N., Leinaar, E., Smith, M. G., & Khoury, A. (2021). Adolescent birth rates and Rural–Urban differences by levels of deprivation and health professional shortage areas in the United States, 2017–2018. American Journal of Public Health, 111(1), 136–144. Web.