Following on the heels of recent teen-focused research, this collaborative conducted community focus groups to gauge support for teen-pregnancy prevention initiatives. "The purpose was to listen to community opinions and use them to develop a strategic plan to address this issue. Community input is essential in developing a plan that citizens will accept and work on together," according to Linda Walker, Coordinator for the Bartow Collaborative Family Connection.
Focus groups were conducted in late January; forty-two Bartow County citizens participated. The final report has just been released, coinciding with National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month, an observance designed to call community attention to this problem.
Bartow County teen-pregnancy rates for girls aged 15-17 have decreased over the past 10 years. The teen-pregnancy rate per 1,000 was 70.4 in 1999 and decreased to 29.5 in 2009. The actual number of teen pregnancies in 2009 was 58. Bartow County still ranks 51st highest of Georgia's 159 counties, slightly below the state average, however Georgia's teen-pregnancy rate is 13th highest in the nation. Cost of teen pregnancies to Bartow County is approximately $4.6 million.
Focus group participants believed the best way to address teen pregnancy was by developing programs with multiple components to address teens' different needs. There was a general belief that the combined efforts of everyone could help reduce the teen pregnancy rate. The common solutions proposed by all four community sectors included:
§ positive use of the news media to counteract sexualized media images,
§ collaborations among different sectors in society (i.e. schools, parents, churches) and
§ more comprehensive, on-going sex education programs in schools.
All focus group participants believed teen pregnancy was a very important community issue and wanted to be involved in teen-pregnancy prevention.
Different community groups wanted to work together to create effective programs targeting teen pregnancy and felt it was important for everyone to do so, even those with different viewpoints. Many participants thought news media could be a powerful tool for sending pregnancy-prevention messages to teens by addressing the explicit and promiscuous sexual messages that are often conveyed by the entertainment media.
All groups felt teens should receive sexual education and found the current sexual-education curriculum insufficient. Individuals in all focus groups believed sex education should be comprehensive and contain a moral as well as a spiritual component. There should also be components about self-esteem, self-acceptance, relationship building and exposure to positive role models and peer educators, the groups felt. Groups also felt parents should be included in the curriculum selection and that there should be components that help parents talk to their children about sex as well as workshops that include both parents and children.
Many of the adult opinions matched results from youth-centered research conducted by G-CAPP in 2008. Several Bartow County youth participated as researchers in this project, which included interviews with 120 youth across selected sites in Georgia. The G-CAPP research suggested that training young people to engage in honest conversations with their peers about risk and
protective factors in their communities may provide a better way to hear young people's true voice on teen pregnancy.
For example, in response to the question, "Where do you think sex education should be taught?":
§ over half chose school as the best place. Said one youth, "School counselors, because I believe they are more trust [worthy] than anywhere else." Said another, "Youth are away from their parents and may be allowed to speak more openly around friends." Said a third, "Teachers would understand me more than my mom."
§ thirty percent believed that teens should get their sex education at home. One teen said "Your parents are supposed to educate you on that type of stuff. A second said, "Because that's where most morals are taught." Another added, "Home is where they're usually most comfortable."
§ Only eight teens suggested the health department or doctor's office as an appropriate place for sex education. Said one teen, "It's confidential, so you don't have to worry about people knowing your business."
§ Six teens suggested that church is a good place to get sex education. Said one, "The lady at church made it fun to learn about sex. She explained it like a sister."
The Bartow Collaborative Family Connection plans to develop a work group of members from each focus group and members of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Task Force to map out a community plan incorporating ideas from the focus groups. "This is very exciting. Bartow County has the opportunity to provide a model of how to address teen pregnancy at several different levels of prevention." stated Angie Robinson, Youth Development Coordinator with Northwest Georgia Public Health.
Bartow County is fortunate to have the partnership with G-CAPP to provide technical assistance and resources in this process. G-CAPP is one of seven organizations across the United States awarded a grant for the initiative "Working to Institutionalize Sex Education" by the Grove Foundation. "The goal of the initiative is to build the sexuality and health education infrastructure to implement and institutionalize effective sex education" according to Kim Nolte, Vice-president of Programs and Training with G-CAPP.
To request a copy of the full report or to get involved, contact Angie Robinson at 706-802-5828 or arrobinson@dhr.state.ga.us.
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