Development of the risk assessment model for adolescent pregnancy, Banthaen District, Chaiyaphum Province

Abstract

This qualitative research aimed to study the experiences of adolescent pregnant females and to develop a risk assessment model for adolescent pregnancy. There were 20 informants. The key informants were 10 adolescent pregnant females and the secondary informants were the husbands of the 10 adolescent pregnant females who came to the antenatal clinic at Banthaen Hospital. The data collection was administered from October 2015 to March 2016 by participant observation, in-depth interview and group discussion. The data were analyzed by content analysis. The results showed that the risk behaviors for adolescent pregnancy consisted of 2 stages. The first stage: the adolescent females formed a group and with a group symbol and they wore outstanding clothes. The second stage:  adolescent males started to join the group, so the group was split into smaller groups. Some rarely talked to friends and some started to hang out at night and talked about prevention of pregnancy and asked for sources of contraceptive pill and condoms. According to the use of behavioral assessment in 3 adolescent pregnant females who came for antenatal care, it was found that the issues with the increasing frequency were dressing with outstanding clothes, hanging out at night, seeking sources of contraceptive pills and condom and searching for the information of pregnancy from the internet. Based on the obtained data and the information from the review of the literature, it led to the development of the risk assessment model for adolescent pregnancy. The assessment consisted of 15 questionnaires with 5 rating scale and it was piloted with 30 adolescents. The reliability was 0.85.     

The study results can be concluded as follows. For the life experiences before getting pregnant of the adolescent females, when entering a teenager, they must be a group of friends or close friends with a group symbol and they wore outstanding clothes. Then they had boyfriends, separated themselves from the group as well as started to hang out at night and searched for sources of contraceptive pill and the information of pregnancy. The findings led to the development of the risk assessment model for adolescent pregnancy which was 5 rating scale that would be useful for health officials and health networks for surveillance and prevention of pregnancy in adolescents in the area. The assessment was piloted with 30 adolescents, and the reliability was 0.85.

The limitation was that it was the study conducted only in a specific area. For the recommendation,   further study in terms of evaluating the use of the risk assessment model for adolescent pregnancy should be conducted.