A health belief model approach to adolescents' fertility control: some pilot program findings.
We report initial findings from a community-based intervention intended to strengthen unmarried teenagers' fertility control behaviors (i.e., abstinence or consistent contraceptive usage). The Health Belief Model (HBM) was used as a conceptual framework for developing curriculum materials and for evaluating a 15-hour educational program targeted at 13- to 17-year-olds of both genders. Interview data pertaining to sexual and contraceptive perceptions, knowledge, and behaviors were collected three times in a no-control, short-term, longitudinal study design: (1) just before; (2) immediately after; and (3) three to six months following the intervention. Dependent variables of major interest were changes in perceptions, knowledge, and self-reported fertility control behaviors. Based on data from the 120 teenagers who completed the followup (80% of those completing the intervention), we found: (1) consistent contraceptive usage increased significantly; (2) changes in HBM-based contraceptive perceptions and sexual knowledge at immediate post-testing were predictive of increases in contraceptive usage at longer followup; and (3) the majority (62%) remained abstinent from pre-intervention to followup. These findings, study limitations, and suggestions for a future controlled study are then discussed.
D000293:Adolescent; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D003268:Contraception Behavior; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010865:Pilot Projects; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012736:Sex Education; D012746:Sexual Abstinence; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires