Mobilizing Communities in Support of Teen Pregnancy Prevention: “Communitywide Initiatives” Findings

Abstract

The U.S. Office of Adolescent Health and the Centers for Disease Control continue to promote a community mobilization model in support of teen pregnancy prevention in new grant initiatives. The most recent federal grant program-the "Communitywide Initiatives (2010-2015)" grant-promoted pregnancy prevention using three teams within the nine targeted communities to promote evidence-based sexuality education programs and enhanced access to contraceptive services among adolescents. The "lessons" reported in this article are compiled from three key informant interviews conducted with all project coordinators over the course of the 5 years (2010-2015) that this grant was implemented. Both successes and challenges to community mobilization in support of teen pregnancy prevention are presented and discussed.

Influence of Community-Based Ecological Interventions on the Management of Teenage Pregnancy in Mombasa County

“…This effort was further supported by various programs aimed at the prevention of teenage pregnancies in their home area including undergoing training in responsible behavioural choices and use of contraceptives. These findings are similar to by Saunders (2016) who posits that community mobilizations help to prevent teen pregnancies.…”

“…The study by Saunders (2016) is supported by Akella and Jordan (2015) in "the Impact of Social and Cultural Factors on Teen Pregnancy" who focused on the reasons leading to high pregnancy rates within the African American teenage population. The Social Learning Theory by Bandura (1977) forms a basis of this study and aided in deconstructing the factors which lead to teenagers to choose early motherhood over career and education.…”

Teen Pregnancy Prevention: Implementation of a Multicomponent, Community-Wide Approach

“…Youth leadership team members also helped develop communication campaigns, managed social media outreach, and organized community-wide events. Many community and youth leadership teams received training on adolescent and sexual health and received media training so they could act as spokespersons for the initiative at community events (See [19] for additional information on lessons learned from the community mobilization groups).…”

“…In light of this, the initiatives were designed to involve and engage the communities from the start. Community mobilization efforts, which represent the third initiative element, sought to engage community members, youth, and local leaders in planning the initiatives and providing feedback on how and where initiative activities were implemented [19]. The fourth element, educating key stake-holder (e.g., school boards, youth serving organization leadership) about the need for teen pregnancy prevention, extent of community support for TPP efforts, and the types of interventions supported by research, was to be carried out by the state- and community-based organizations as well as participating community members.…”