Perceived Knowledge and Training Needs in Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention

Abstract

Objectives: To examine health care professionals' knowledge and interest in training in adolescent pregnancy prevention and whether an association exists between perceived knowledge and interest in training.Design: A cross-sectional mailed survey.Participants: Random, stratified sample design that identified 800 psychologists, 800 social workers, 1000 nurses, and 400 pediatricians from national professional membership lists. Response rate to the mailed survey was 51%. After removing respondents who did not currently work with adolescents, 1242 surveys (41%) were available for analyses.Main Outcome Measures: Descriptive analyses were conducted on self-report data concerning perceived knowledge and interest in training about adolescent pregnancy prevention separately for each of the 4 disciplines. Within disciplines, perceived knowledge and interest in training were correlated for each of 3 content areas (ie, sex education and contraceptive counseling, adolescent pregnancy, and counseling after a negative pregnancy test) and for a summary measure of the content areas.Results: Less than half of the nursing, pediatrics, psychology, and social work professionals reported high perceived knowledge in the 3 content areas. Psychologists and social workers reported the lowest perceived knowledge. However, with the exception of psychologists, more than two thirds of the other respondents reported moderate or high interest in training in the 3 content areas. Interest in training was not strongly correlated with perceived knowledge within any discipline. Conclusions:The need to integrate psychosocial components into adolescent health care is a core assumption in the field, yet these data indicate that psychologists and social workers perceive low levels of knowledge and interest in training. These disciplines may benefit from more targeted professional training about their role in preventing adolescent pregnancy. These reductions have been attributed to several factors, including a decrease in the proportion of adolescents who are sexually active, an increased likelihood that adolescents will use contraception, especially condoms, at first intercourse, and the use of injectable and implantable contraceptives, especially among black youth, who have historically had the highest adolescent pregnancy and birth rates. Arch Pediatr Adolesc1 Declines in adolescent pregnancy rates should fuel optimism but not complacency, because the number of pregnancies in females younger than 20 years in the United States continues to approach 1 million per year; more than three quarters of these pregnancies are assumed to be unintended.2 Also, in the near future, we may see an increase in adolescent pregnancy and childbearing. It is estimated that between 1995 and 2005, the number of 15-to 17-year-olds in the United States will increase by 15%; the greatest increases will be in the nonwhite population, who have 2 to 3 times higher fertility rates than whites.3 If the current adolescent fertility rate remains the same, it is estimated that there ...

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