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Government-backed youth program pilot didn't reduce teenage pregnancies
July 08, 2009Research: Health outcomes of youth development program in England: prospective matched comparison study
A government-backed youth development pilot programme in England, aimed at reducing teenage pregnancies, drunkenness or cannabis use, didn't reduce teenage pregnancies and other outcomes and might have increased pregnancies, according to research published on bmj.com today.
The authors, led by Meg Wiggins of the Institute of Education, University of London and Chris Bonell at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, were commissioned by the Department of Health to carry out an independent evaluation of the Young People's Development Programme (YPDP) in England.
Initiated in 2004, YPDP was informed by the US Children's Aid Society-Carrera programme which significantly reduced teenage pregnancies in disadvantaged areas of New York city. However, a 2005 study of attempted replications elsewhere in the United States did not find such benefits and there have been calls for further evaluation.
The study included over 2,500 young people aged 13 to 15 years who were deemed by professionals to be vulnerable or at risk of teenage pregnancy, substance misuse, or school exclusion.
Participants were either taking part in YPDP (intervention group) or a youth programme not receiving YPDP funds (comparison group). Measures including pregnancy, weekly cannabis use, and monthly drunkenness were assessed at 18 months.
Key results reveal significantly more pregnancies among young women in the YPDP group than in the comparison group (16% versus 6%). Young women in the YPDP group also more commonly reported early heterosexual experience (58% versus 33%) and expectation of teenage parenthood (34% versus 24%).
Significantly more young people in the YPDP group also reported truanting in the previous six months than in the comparison group.
The authors found no definite explanation for the findings. For example, one obvious explanation is that young people in the YPDP group were more at risk at the start of the study, yet the authors show that YPDP group participants were no more sexually active than those in the comparison group and adjusted for other differences. Other plausible causes may involve participants being exposed to more risky peers and being labelled as problematic.
They conclude that any further implementation of such interventions in the UK should be only within randomised trials.
They also suggest that participants should be targeted by social disadvantage rather than behavioural risk and that wider socioeconomic and education influences on young people's health need to be addressed.
These results suggest that, at best, the programme had no impact, and at worst had a negative impact, says Douglas Kirby, a senior research scientist based in the United States.
But this does not mean that all youth development approaches are ineffective, he writes. For example, programmes may be more effective when implemented by charismatic staff, when they facilitate access to reproductive health services, when the staff connect with the teenage participants, or when the staff give a strong clear message about avoiding unprotected sex.
Furthermore, there is evidence that different types of youth development programs can have a positive impact on sexual risk behaviour and reported pregnancy rates.
BMJ-British Medical Journal
Initiated in 2004, YPDP was informed by the US Children's Aid Society-Carrera programme which significantly reduced teenage pregnancies in disadvantaged areas of New York city. However, a 2005 study of attempted replications elsewhere in the United States did not find such benefits and there have been calls for further evaluation.
The study included over 2,500 young people aged 13 to 15 years who were deemed by professionals to be vulnerable or at risk of teenage pregnancy, substance misuse, or school exclusion.
Participants were either taking part in YPDP (intervention group) or a youth programme not receiving YPDP funds (comparison group). Measures including pregnancy, weekly cannabis use, and monthly drunkenness were assessed at 18 months.
Key results reveal significantly more pregnancies among young women in the YPDP group than in the comparison group (16% versus 6%). Young women in the YPDP group also more commonly reported early heterosexual experience (58% versus 33%) and expectation of teenage parenthood (34% versus 24%).
Significantly more young people in the YPDP group also reported truanting in the previous six months than in the comparison group.
The authors found no definite explanation for the findings. For example, one obvious explanation is that young people in the YPDP group were more at risk at the start of the study, yet the authors show that YPDP group participants were no more sexually active than those in the comparison group and adjusted for other differences. Other plausible causes may involve participants being exposed to more risky peers and being labelled as problematic.
They conclude that any further implementation of such interventions in the UK should be only within randomised trials.
They also suggest that participants should be targeted by social disadvantage rather than behavioural risk and that wider socioeconomic and education influences on young people's health need to be addressed.
These results suggest that, at best, the programme had no impact, and at worst had a negative impact, says Douglas Kirby, a senior research scientist based in the United States.
But this does not mean that all youth development approaches are ineffective, he writes. For example, programmes may be more effective when implemented by charismatic staff, when they facilitate access to reproductive health services, when the staff connect with the teenage participants, or when the staff give a strong clear message about avoiding unprotected sex.
Furthermore, there is evidence that different types of youth development programs can have a positive impact on sexual risk behaviour and reported pregnancy rates.
BMJ-British Medical Journal
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Improving school culture may help cut substance abuse and teenage pregnancies
Improving the institutional culture (ethos) of schools in the UK may help reduce substance abuse and teenage pregnancies, says an article in this week's BMJ.
Increased suicide risk from low birthweight babies and those born to teenage mothers (pp 1102, 1135)
Results of a prospective population study from Sweden in this week's issue of THE LANCET highlight how low birthweight and being born to a teenage mother are independent risk factors associated with increased risk of suicide in later life. The study also shows how being born fourth or more in sibling order and poor maternal socio-economic status is associated with an increased risk of suicide attempt.
Sex Education Taught By Pupils - A New Approach To Tackling Pregnancy And Infection.
Researchers carrying out a major new Medical Research Council study said today (23 July 2004), that sex education delivered by teenagers for teenagers could be a promising way forward if we are to tackle some of the major sexual health problems facing the UK today. The MRC study known as RIPPLE (A Randomised Intervention trial of Pupil-led sex Education in England) was designed to assess the effectiveness of sex and relationship education delivered by pupils (peer-led) versus sessions given by teachers. Although overall changes in behaviour were modest in both groups, pupils taught by their peers were more satisfied with their sex education and importantly, fewer girls in th
Sex: Are You Thinking About It Enough? Teenage pregnancy awareness campaign - created by students
A new advertising campaign aimed at cutting the number of teenage pregnancies in Medway was launched this week. The campaign uses images from a student photographer with art direction by Sam Chick. Medway Council, working with local Primary Care Trusts, commissioned students from Kent Institute of Art and Design's School of Photography to create four posters to promote awareness of local contraceptive and sexual health services for young people under the slogan 'Sex are you thinking about it enough?' The aim of the campaign is to encourage the young to use the range of sexual health services available to them. KIAD was approached because the students' closeness in age to the target audience
Deprived areas show greatest increase in teenage pregnancies
From the 1980s to the 1990s rates of teenage pregnancy in Scotland increased more rapidly in areas of greater socioeconomic deprivation, finds a study in this week's BMJ. This finding has implications for allocating resources to achieve government targets in reducing pregnancy rates by 2010. Research carried out at Glasgow University investigated the impact of socioeconomic deprivation on teenage pregnancy and the extent of local variation in Scotland, and how both had changed between the 1980s and 1990s. Among teenagers aged less than 18, the annual pregnancy rate increased in more deprived areas, but there was no change, on average, among teenagers in more affluent areas. Among 18-19 year
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