Baby Think It Over: evaluation of an infant simulation intervention for adolescent pregnancy prevention.
In an intervention aimed at showing students the amount of responsibility involved in caring for an infant, 353 predominantly ninth-grade and Latino students carried the Baby Think It Over simulation doll in an intervention and completed matched pre- and posttest measures. Statistically significant gains were found on the total score and the impact of having a baby on academics, social life, and other family members; emotional risks; understanding and handling an infant's crying; and apprehension of the amount of responsibility involved in infant care. On a posttest-only measure, 108 participants reported statistically significant differences before and after carrying the doll with regard to the age at which they wished to have a child, their career and education plans, and the perceived interference of an infant with those education and career plans and their social life.
de Anda
Diane
D
Department of Social Welfare, School of Public Affairs, University of California, Los Angeles 90095, USA. ddeanda@ucla.edu
D000293:Adolescent; D003448:Crying; D018961:Educational Technology; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007224:Infant Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D015141:Los Angeles; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010988:Play and Playthings; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012572:School Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000208:ethnology; D013664:Teaching Materials; D013997:Time Factors