In the very open and liberal world we live in, it is common to hear about sexual intercourse between teenagers. Do to such actions, teen pregnancy has increased greatly in the last decade. Thus, I was interested to see what other measures have been been used previously in order to decrease such numbers. I found an article named “Evaluation of an Infant Simulator Intervention for Teen Pregnancy Prevention” (Herrman, Waterhouse, & Chiquoine, 2011) by Judith W. Herrman, Julie K. Waterhouse, and Julie Chiquoine. This study can be originally found in the Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing, May-June 2011, Vol.40(3), pp.322-328. The article talked about their prior knowledge regarding teen pregnancy, their method to prevent such scenario, and how the teenagers reacted to such method. I choose this article because I think teenagers should be more conscious of their actions, since being a parent is a big responsibility and not an easy thing to do, as well as how it can affect their entire lives. Additionally, I found interesting the way they tried work around the problem and the method they used, which I believe to be very clever and unique.
This pilot study was conducted at the School of Nursing, University of Delaware, their objective was to see the effectiveness of using an infant simulator and a curriculum based program, in hopes of changing teenagers views of parenting/ pregnancy and make them more aware of their actions. By using such simulation, the tested teenagers would be able to see how greatly their lives would change due to the costs and struggles of teen parenting. Due to all this, they hoped to see a decrease in teen pregnancy rates. This is very significant because the whole test would be done in a very realistic manner, so in my opinion the results should be very accurate and logical. Also because of the simulation, it can be eye opening and peturbing for some of the teens who hadn’t put so much thought into the difficulties of parenthood. Which is one the goals of this study.
The authors in this pre-experimental investigation, mentioned how previous inquiries dealing with reducing juvenile pregnancies have shown no positive results. The reason behind such outcomes according to Herrman, Waterhouse, and Chiquoine is due to the “lack of conclusive research, supporting the effectiveness of interventions, considerable cost, and lack of an effective instrument to measure program-associated differences in attitudes toward parenting” (Barnett, 2006; Kralewski and Stevens-Simon, 2000; Somers, Johnson, and Sawilowsky, 2002). The new study can be connected to prior works because similarly they checked for knowledge levels, attitude changes, and changes in behaviors in the group tested. However, the new study was created with more depth and tried to eliminate errors. The research conducted at the University of Delaware, made sure to give the adolescents more exposure time with the “infants,” and used the Thoughts on Teen Parenting Survey (TTPS) to see how the students were being affected by the simulation while holding weekly meetings with a nurse to see perception changes. While both investigations share many similarities, the main difference is how controlled and more organized the study by Herrman, Waterhouse, and Chiquoine is due to the strict setup which produces more clear results.
In order to answer their question, the authors performed their inquiry in a program format, entitled BTIO (Baby Think It Over). This program combined the TTPS survey, the use of simulation, and weekly meetings to meet up with a nurse and do journals/ activities regarding early parenthood. During the six weekly meetings, the teenagers were told to complete a survey curriculum, which asked them questions about how would they deal with certain situations and illustrated the struggles they would have to face due to having a baby at a young age. Hence, it would allow the supervisors to witness how exactly the students would react, either positively or negatively as well as their changed perceptions. Also, after the third week, the sample group were able to take the baby simulators home. The infants were programed in ways which sensed “individual teen caregiving, head and neck sensors to detect mishandling or abuse ….The simulators required teens to determine the reason for infant crying and to select appropriate actions to respond to infant cues, including burping, feeding, cuddling, diaper changing, or rocking” (Herrman, Waterhouse, & Chiquoine, 2011). The way the youth responded and dealt with such scenarios were then evaluated through a computer, and later as a printout to use for discussion in class. Another important factor in this test according to the authors was the relationship between the adolescents and the nurse, who supervised the program and gave them support on a personal level. Since, the nurse would be reading/ commenting on the teens journals which all contained private feelings and concerns. After the testing period was concluded, the answers from the TTPS survey were all added into composite scores to determine where exactly the teenagers stood about teen pregnancy.
After the results of the six-week test period were carefully evaluated and analyzed, the researchers from the University of Delaware were able to conclude that the use of the TTPS and infant simulators did show small results, but the use of simulators remained “controversial.” Even though, the results didn’t demonstrate a significant change, it was still noticeable that there was now a somewhat negative perception of teen pregnancy/parenting. In my opinion, such negativity was evident because after being questioned multiple times and made to face hard situations while dealing with the simulator, it made the teenagers see the reality of being a parent as well as how it adds a lot of responsibility. Additionally, some clear changes from the initial survey to the final results, illustrate the impact early parenthood has on relationships such as friendships and personal characteristics. I believe this is because of how much time parenting takes up, so it is hard to the freedom others have. Furthermore, becoming a parent is a life changing experience which I believe shapes the person you become. It can be concluded that the use of infant simulators were not as effective as they were hoped to be, but in the future they may be a great source for teen pregnancy prevention curriculums.
The findings of this study helped broaden my comprehension of the topic due to the way the survey/ curriculum and simulator experience was set up. The whole test in my opinion was logical/ realistic and it was a great way to expose the responsibilities of being a parent. It made me understand that not being careful of my actions for example, sexually, can lead me into a completely new lifestyle. Due to my young age, I may find such situation to be overwhelming or not feel prepared for such duties, thus I will not know how to take care of my child’s needs. Also, the study illustrates the many aspects of a teenagers life that can be affected, such as relationships and financially. Being a teen parent signifies that you won’t have the same liberties you once had, since you would now be taking care of another being and because of this many limitations will be placed. The study additionally, helped me understand that an individual’s demographic characteristics can also affect the way they perceive pregnancy or more specifically teen pregnancy. I can now see that there are too many factors which can influence or alter how some adolescents perceive parenthood and because of this, prevention programs such as the one in this test, are not as effective as they should be, since teens are still somewhat indifferent to the topic.
The goal of this pilot study was to determine the effectiveness of infant simulators as a way to change the views teenagers had on parenting. By accomplishing this, the researchers hoped to see a decrease in early parenthood. The program consisted of six weekly meetings with professional nurses who helped the sample group when it came to concerns and took note of how the students were responding in their survey questions relating to situations they would have to face as a parent. Afterwards, the adolescents were allowed to take the “infants” home where they had to learn to decipher what the baby needed or how to please the child. Both the surveys and the simulators, were evaluated and discussed with the teens to further see if their ideas had changed. However, the results depicted insignificant change which caused many to believe that the use of simulation may or may not be effective in prevention programs. While I believe this study was great and unique, I believe it was only okay as a research paper on the topic. The reason why I believe this, is because all of the information provided seemed to be redundant, I felt like I couldn’t further expand my understanding. Also, there were many variables which affected this study, such as the time the students spent with the infant simulators or how the group tested was small and not chosen at random. I feel that if there had been more planning, additional research, or the test had been conducted for a longer time period, there may have been positive results supporting the objective.