Successful Teenage

Motherhood

Shannon Conover, Megan Hiser,

Nick Huggard
The Numbers
One in three American females becomes pregnant by 20 years of age, about

half of which result in a live birth (Tanner et al., 2013).

Nearly 750,000 adolescent pregnancies occur within the U.S. each year

(Greydanus et al., 2012).

The neonatal mortality rate is double for teen mothers in the U.S. (Greydanus et

al., 2012).
The Program
A 6-week program, one session a week.
Offered 4 times a year (Starting in January, April, July, and October).
The first hour of each week will focus on the following subjects
Week 1 & 2: Prenatal Care
Week 3 & 4: Finances and Budgeting
Week 5 & 6: Successful Parenting and Discipline

The second hour will give the mother's time to meet with their mentors and
discuss
Whats Needed
20 teen moms to participate in the program
10 past teen mothers to act as mentors to the current pregnant teens
A local high school classroom
1 Licensed Family Life Educator to lead and organize the whole program
Skilled staff to teach each weeks lesson. Including: 1 Registered nurse, 1
Certified Family Financial Planner, and 1 licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
Handouts for each weeks lesson for easy note taking, as well as a list of resources
going along with it
Journals for the mothers
Goals for the Mother
Understanding the role they play in their childs health during pregnancy
More confidence in the role as a parent
Understanding basic aspects of budgeting and feeling more competent in
managing financial resources
Healthier pregnancies
A supportive group of people from the class
Prepared to navigate the parent-child relationship
Measuring our Success
Pretest before each lesson to test their existing knowledge
A posttest to see how much they learned from the program
Moms will self-report their confidence as mothers
These tests will help us measure how successful our
program was for each of the moms, and what areas we need
to improve
Overall Program Goals
Empower, support, and educate adolescent mothers
Reduce stigmatization of adolescent pregnancy and
parenthood and the negative stereotypes surrounding it
Reduce levels of poverty among adolescent mothers
Increase the overall well being of children born to
adolescent mothers
Any Questions?
References
Greydanus, D. E., M.D., Huff, M., PhD., Omar, H. A., M.D., & Dodich, C. B., M.D. (2012).

Pregnancy in adolescence. International Journal of Child and Adolescent Health, 5(4),

421-429.

Tanner, A. E., Jelenewicz, S. M., Ma, A., Rodgers, C. R., Houston, A. M., & Paluzzi, P.

(2013). Ambivalent Messages: Adolescents Perspectives on Pregnancy and

Birth. Journal of Adolescent Health, 53(1), 105-111.