Abstract

PIP: Social workers in the schools can take positive and immediate action to address teenage pregnancy through the use of interventive models that help teenagers avoid the risk of unwanted pregnancy. The present article describes and empirically supports 1 such school-based model. The author 1st delineates the major problems associated with teenage pregnancy and then relates the preventive model to prior research and details its implementation in school settings. A discussion of reslults from the model's field evaluation is followed with implications for school social workers. The model reported here is directed to all adolescents rather than focusing on a "high-risk" population. The risk of pregnancy is assumed to be a normal part of adolescent development. Grounded in an intterpersonal conceptualization of teenage pregnancy and in related empirical research, the school-based model helps young men and women acquire the requisite skills for preventing unwanted pregnancy. The program requires school social workers to meet with 12-18 teenage students of both sexes and to provide them with basic information on human sexuality, reproduction and contraception. These topics are covered by lectures, demostrations, discussion and audiovisual presentations. Through instruction, feedback and reinforcement, student learn how to talk about sensitive topics, stand up for their rights and be convincing and effective when carrying out decisions. Homework assignments are designed to develop the students'skills in interactions with dating partners, parents and friends. The clinical applicability and effectiveness of this prevention training model is documented through a study conducted in an urban high school. 36 informed and consenting sophomores of both sexes were randomly assigned either to an interventive group or to a non-treatment control group. Compared to the latter, the former had more accurate knowledge of human reproduction and contraception after the intervention. Buttressing these and other positive results, the students' enthusiastic feedback left little doubt that they enjoyed the group process and were interested in the training. Moreover, analyses of follow-up data on coital activity, the use of contraceptives, and family planning decisions revealed that the training had produced striking effects. Decision making tests, behavioral performance tests, follow-up questionnaires and videotaping of behavior during stressful interpersonal situations were among the evaluation techniques used.