Articles: adolescent.
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A review of five rigorously evaluated adolescent pregnancy prevention programs shows that all five incorporate an emphasis on abstinence or delay of sexual initiation, training in decision-making and negotiation skills, and education on sexuality and contraception. Four of the five directly or indirectly provide access to contraceptive services. ⋯ Three of these four programs also significantly increased rates of contraceptive use among participants relative to controls; the most successful programs, which increased contraceptive use by as much as 22 percentage points, provided access to contraceptive services and targeted adolescents who were younger and those who were not yet sexually experienced. Two programs significantly decreased the proportion of adolescents who became pregnant; these programs were the two that were most active in providing access to contraceptive services.
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Having presented an overview of the available methods of contraception, the authors present one approach to prescribing contraceptives based on their experience. First, adolescent patients in our practice are discouraged from engaging in sexual intercourse. Abstinence is the only fail-safe method of contraception and provides benefits both emotionally and physically (i.e., prevention from sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies). ⋯ One recent study demonstrated certain patient characteristics that were associated with good compliance with oral contraceptives, including white race, higher education level, suburban residence, and older age of both the patient and her mate. Keeping these characteristics in mind may be helpful when prescribing oral contraceptives. Of course, it is the patient's prerogative to choose the type of contraception she feels will be best suited for her.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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Review Comparative Study
Contraception in The Netherlands: the low abortion rate explained.
This article gives a review of the main factors that are related to the low abortion rate in the Netherlands. Attention is payed to figures on abortion and the use of contraceptive methods since the beginning of the 1960s up to the end of the 1980s. ⋯ A reduction of unwanted pregnancies has been accomplished through successful strategies for the prevention of teenage pregnancy (including sex education, open discussions on sexuality in mass media, educational campaigns and low barrier services) as well as through wide acceptance of sterilization. The Dutch experience with family planning shows the following characteristics: a strong wish to reduce reliance on abortion, ongoing sexual and contraceptive education related to the actual experiences of the target groups, and low barrier family planning services.
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The growth literature from developing countries is reviewed to assess the extent to which stunting, a phenomenon of early childhood, can be reversed in later childhood and adolescence. The potential for catch-up growth increases as maturation is delayed and the growth period is prolonged. ⋯ Improvements in living conditions, as through food supplementation or through adoption, trigger catch-up growth but do so more effectively in the very young. One study cautions that in older adopted subjects, accelerated growth may accelerate maturation, shorten the growth period and lead to short adult stature.
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Sexuality and power relations based on gender are relevant to researchers, policymakers, and service providers in the reproductive health field, because they underlie virtually all of the behaviors and conditions that their programs address. Yet, a review of conventional treatments in the demographic and family planning literature reveals that, when they consider these topics at all, researchers typically adopt narrow definitions of sexual behavior and focus almost exclusively on risks of pregnancy and disease. This article proposes an analytic framework as a guide to researchers and family planning providers. It relates four dimensions of sexuality to reproductive health outcomes and concludes that family planning policies and programs should address a broader spectrum of sexual behaviors and meanings, consider questions of sexual enjoyment as well as risk, and confront ideologies of male entitlement that threaten women's sexual and reproductive rights and health.