Recognizing the Costs of Teen Pregnancy: “baby Think It Over” - Recognizing the Costs of Teen Pregnancy: “baby Think It Over” - Open Access Pub

Despite recent improvements in teen pregnancy and birth rates, 2000 teens get pregnant each day in the U.S. Innovative strategies that are effective and acceptable within communities are needed to continue these declines in teen pregnancies. Captivating educational interventions enhanced by infant simulators, such as “Baby Think it Over” (BTIO), can discourage teen pregnancy. The purpose of this research was to evaluate a BTIO intervention to determine the effectiveness of the program in changing 236 high school students’ perceptions of the costs of teen parenting. From a comparison of pre-test/two post-test measures, it appears the participants recognized that teen parenting would be costly in terms of increased difficulty in making responsible decisions as well as the challenges of juggling school with parenting. They also recognized other costs including negative impacts on relationships, on feelings of personal worth, and the likelihood of diminished achievements in the future. DOI10.14302/issn.2324-7339.jcrhap-13-186 Recognizing the Costs of Teen Pregnancy: “Baby Think it Over” Teen pregnancy prevention is a national concern. While we have seen dramatic declines, the US continues to have one of the highest teen childbearing rates among industrialized nations 1. Approximately 750,000 teens become pregnant each year 2. Sexuality education interventions that incorporate infant simulators are sometimes used to educate adolescents about parenting as a strategy to decrease teen pregnancy. These interventions, often called “Baby Think It Over” (BTIO), are generally tailored to meet the needs of specific populations based on time, space and resources available. Just as BTIO interventions vary widely, methods for evaluating the effectiveness of these interventions also vary. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of a BTIO intervention in changing the perceptions of high school students regarding the costs of teen parenting. The BTIO intervention evaluated in this research was developed and presented by educators from the Children’s Home Society. Adapted from the Realityworks？ curriculum, this intervention was tailored to meet the needs of students while following the guidelines of the county school board. This BTIO intervention, presented annually since 2000 with increasing numbers of participants (> 1000/year) each year, is popular among students and teachers and assumed to be effective as teen pregnancy rates in the county have steadily declined during that time period. Since the onset of the program, BTIO has grown from two