A descriptive study to assess the knowledge on teenage pregnancy and its prevention among the teenage girl residing in selected areas of Dadra and Nagar Haveli

 

Mrs. P.Vadivukkarasi Ramanadin¹, Mr. Sijo ME², Ms. Indave Chhaya Laxmanbhai³,

Ms. Mahala Lalita Manjibhai³, Ms. Mahala Laxmi Lasyabhai³, Ms. Mahale Ragini Laxman³, Ms. Mahla Mathuri Rameshbhai³

¹Professor, Dept. of OBG (N), Shri Vinoba Bhave College of Nursing, Silvassa

²Sister Tutor, Shri Vinoba Bhave College of Nursing, Silvassa.

³Final Year DGNM, Shri Vinoba Bhave College of Nursing, Silvassa

 

ABSTRACT:

Teenage pregnancy is a worldwide problem. Early childbearing, particularly among teenagers (those under 13 to 19 years of age) has negative demographic, socio-economic and socio-cultural consequences. Teenage mothers are likely to suffer from severe complications during delivery, which result in higher morbidity and mortality for them and their children. This study is conducted with an aim to assess the knowledge on teenage pregnancy among the teenage girls residing in selected rural areas. Quantitative approach with descriptive research design was used. Non probability convenient sampling technique was used to select 32 teenage girls residing in selected rural area of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Silvassa. Interview schedule with structure knowledge questionnaire was used to collect the data. The tool consists of two sections. Section- I includes socio demographic variables and section – II include- structured knowledge questionnaire on teenage pregnancy. Study was analyzed by using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Finding of the study shows that maximum number (37.5%) of teenage girls have very poor and 15.625% of them have good knowledge on teenage pregnancy. Present study shows that majority of the teenage girls are not having adequate knowledge regarding teenage pregnancy.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Adolescence is a very important beautiful stage in life that coming during school period that is characterized by the physical, psychological and social development of an individual, which is generally carried on to adulthood. An adolescent girl is able to become pregnant following menarche.⁽¹⁾

 

 

 

According to world health organization teenage is the age between 10- 19 year.⁽²⁾ Teenagers (ages 13-19) became pregnant, approximately 89,300 had miscarriages, and 157,500 had legal abortions (latest available data). The result was that there were nearly 367,700 births to teenagers in that year. In 2014, 6.3% of all U.S. births were to teens, and 13.9% of all non marital births were to teen.⁽³⁾ Every day in developing countries, 20,000 girls under age 18 give birth. This amounts to 7.3 million births a year. And if all pregnancies are included, the number of adolescent pregnancies is much higher.⁽⁴⁾ Pregnant teenagers face many of the same obstetrics issues as other women. There are many risk factors are associated with teenage pregnancy such as poor socioeconomic factors, single parent families, lack of positive parent/child communication, sexual pressure from peers, high school drop out rates, social issues, lower educational levels, poverty, divorce, low community income, lack of community coordinated, puberty began at an early age, lack of spiritual life, engages in alcohol and drug use, low self-esteem, limited education, lack of future orientated goals, lack of awareness on teen age pregnancy. The under-18 conception rate for 2012 is the lowest since 1969 at 27.9 conceptions per thousand women aged 15-17⁽⁵⁾ There are number of reasons why teenage girls become pregnant. The more important of these include lack of education on right and wrong birth control methods, belief this is a way to rebel against parents, lack of emotional fulfillment at home, contraceptive failure or human error, belief that becoming pregnant is a way to exercise control over one’s life, belief that having inappropriate relations or becoming pregnant will keep a boyfriend from leaving, cultural values that support early pregnancy.⁽⁶⁾ Impact of teen age pregnancy are very serious, such as infants of teen mothers are more likely to be premature, infant mortality, low birth weight, premature labor, anemia, and pre-eclampsia are connected to the biological age, it was observed in teen births even after controlling for other risk factor (such as utilization of antenatal care etc.). The children of teenage mothers do less well on indicators of health and social wellbeing than the children of older mothers.⁽⁷⁾ Teenage parents in developing countries are often married and their pregnancies welcomed by family and society. These societies, early pregnancy may combine with malnutrition and poor health care to cause medical problems.⁽⁸⁾ It also indicates that many girls are not educated about methods of birth control and how to deal with peers who pressure them into having premarital relations.⁽⁶⁾ Teenage pregnancies appear to be preventable by comprehensive sex education and access to birth control.⁽⁸⁾ Communication skills and relationship education might be powerful factors in reducing teenage pregnancy.⁽⁶⁾

 

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

Quantitative approach with descriptive research design was adopted. The study was conducted in selected rural areas (Dapada, Khanvel) of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Teenage girls were selected by Non Probability, Convenient Sampling Technique and Sample size was 32. Interview schedule with structured knowledge questionnaire was prepared to assess the knowledge on Teenage Pregnancy. Permission was obtained from Director, DHMS, Silvassa to conduct the study. Oral consent was taken from the teenage girls. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data.

 

RESULTS:

TABLE - 1: PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF ADOLESCENT GIRLS ACCORDING TO THEIR DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES 

 

TABLE-2: MEAN SCORE and PERCENTAGE OF KNOWLEDGE SCORE ON TEENAGE PREGNANCY AMONG THE TEENAGE GIRLS  

Sl.No	Area	No. of Questions	Score	Percentage	Mean Percentage
1	General Knowledge on teen age Pregnancy	4	64	50%	38.8%
2	Risk factors and etiology for teen age pregnancy	2	15	23.4375%
3	Symptoms and Diagnostic test for teen age pregnancy	2	28	43.75%
4	Impact of teen age pregnancy	4	62	48.4375%
5	Complications of teen age pregnancy	4	42	32.8125%
6	Preventions of teen age pregnancy	4	38	29.6875%
	Total	20		100%

 

TABLE-3: LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE ON TEENAGE PREGNANCY AMONG THE TEENAGE GIRLS  

Sl.No	Levels of knowledge on Teen age pregnancy	Frequency	Percentage
1	Very Poor (< 5)	12	37.5%
2	Poor (6-10)	9	28.125%
3	Average (11-12)	6	18.75%
3	Good (13-16)	5	15.625%
4	Very Good (17-20)	0	0

 

DISCUSSION:

Present study reveals, the perceiving education of teenage girls at 5^th standard was 34.375% and from 6-10^th Standard (65.625 %). Similar findings were observed in other study that, 3 (0.%) were illiterate, 28 (25.92%) had primary education, 18 (12.77%) had secondary education and above below the age of 19 years.⁽⁹⁾Present study shows that maximum adolescent girls (15.625%) had good knowledge, followed by average (18.75 %), poor knowledge (28.125 %) and very poor knowledge (37.5%) on teenage pregnancy. Hence it is concluded that maximum adolescent girl had poor knowledge regarding teenage pregnancy. In similar study the knowledge was assessed on teenage pregnancy which reveals that the mean pre test knowledge score was only 47%.⁽⁹⁾ In contrast to the present study findings the result revealed in other study was, a high level of awareness of teenage pregnancy amongst the adolescents (71.8%); 5.1% (16) of the girls and 8.1% (15) of the boys reported having been involved in teenage pregnancy.⁽¹⁰⁾ Prevention is better than cure- the first step should be to prevent early marriage of girls. The second step is to ensure that teenagers and guardians are aware of the ill – effects of early pregnancies and understand the importance of contraception, birth control and the spacing of births. Proper sex education, an appreciation  of once body, its needs and health requirements should be made clear to teenagers, irrespective of whether they live in rural area. If all these condition are brought about, we can look forward to a nation of healthy women and healthy children.

 

REFERENCES:

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2.        WHO/Adolescent health-World Health Organization. A review. Available from: http://www.who.int/topics/adolescent_health/en/

3.        Carmen Solomon- Fears. Teenage Pregnancy Prevention: Statistics and Programs. Congressional Research Service.  January 15, 2016. A review. Available from: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS20301.pdf

4.        Adolescent Pregnancy / UNFPA. A review. Available from: http://www.unfpa.org/adolescent-pregnancy

5.        Alison Hadley. Young mothers face stigma and abuse, say charities. A review. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/26326035/young-mothers-face-stigma-and-abuse-say-charities

6.        Marsha Brown. The Effectiveness of A Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program That Offer Special Benefits For Pregnant and Parenting Teens: A Qualitative Study. A review. Available from: http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1770andcontext=doctoral

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8.        Oringanje C. et al. Interventions for preventing unintended pregnancies among adolescents (Review). A review. Available from: http://www.gfmer.ch/SRH-Course-2010/adolescent-sexual-reproductive-health/pdf/Cochrane-review-prevention-unintended-pregnancies-2009.pdf

9.        Pranay G. et al. A Study of Teenage Pregnancies in Rural Area. Indian Journal of Applied Research. 2014 May; 4(5):506-07.  A review. Available from: https://www.worldwidejournals.com/indian-journal-of-applied-research-(IJAR)/file.php?val=May_2014_1398966915_e9548_158.pdf

10.     P. Vadivukkarasi Ramanadin. Knowledge on Teenage pregnancy. Pondicherry Journal of Nursing. 2012; 5(3).

 

 

 

 

 

Received on 29.01.2017      Modified on 29.03.2017

Accepted on 01.05.2017     © A&V Publications all right reserved