School of Life: A Comprehensive Program Targeting Latino Teenage Pregnancy

摘要

An important year 2000 family planning health status objective, from Healthy People 2000, is to reduce pregnancies among girls aged 17 and younger to no more than 50 per 1,000 adolescents. The Latino adolescent population was specifically targeted due to their 1985 baseline rates of 158 per 1,000. The goal set for Latinas aged 15-19 is 105 per 1,000. Since 1994, the Latina teenage pregnancy rate has been highest among the major racial/ethnic groups nationwide (Ventura, Martin, Curtin, & Mathews, 1999). One neighborhood in South Chandler, Arizona, Census Tract (CT) 5229.02, had a 57% Latino population and 39 pregnancies in 1997 (Economics and Statistics Administration, 1991). Latinas in the census tract accounted for 37 out of 39, almost 95%, of the births to teenagers that same year. The disproportionate rate of births to teenage Latinas, considering their percentage of the census tract's population as well as U.S. population, prompted the selection of adolescent Latinas for the focus of this assessment and subsequent program development to combat the problem. The School of Life program targets teenage pregnancy and aims to reduce it by addressing the interrelated risk factors and taking into account the characteristics of the targeted population. The program's goals are to reduce teenage pregnancy, increase academic attainment, and increase self-esteem of the participants. The target population is fifth grade Latinos from CT 5229.02. Unlike the majority of programs, the School of Life program targets children before they become teenagers and before they start engaging in sexual activity, which makes the abstinence-only message, one that is befitting and viable. The plan entails incorporating the program into the classroom setting throughout the entire fifth grade school year. The major components of the program are teacher teams, sex/respect education, community care, and mentoring.