Pregnancy prevention in adolescents.
Although the pregnancy rate in adolescents has declined steadily in the past 10 years, it remains a major public health problem with lasting repercussions for the teenage mothers, their infants and families, and society as a whole. Successful strategies to prevent adolescent pregnancy include community programs to improve social development, responsible sexual behavior education, and improved contraceptive counseling and delivery. Many of these strategies are implemented at the family and community level. The family physician plays a key role by engaging adolescent patients in confidential, open, and nonthreatening discussions of reproductive health, responsible sexual behavior (including condom use to prevent sexually transmitted diseases), and contraceptive use (including the use of emergency contraception). This dialogue should begin before initial sexual activity and continue throughout the adolescent years.
As-Sanie
Sawsan
S
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-7570, USA. suzieassanie@yahoo.com
Gantt
Angela
A
Rosenthal
Marjorie S
MS
D000293:Adolescent; D003219:Confidentiality; D003268:Contraception Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control