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Drive to cut teenage pregnancies fails
8 Jul 2009A £5.9 million government drive to help cut pregnancies among disadvantaged teenagers failed when numbers actually increased, new research suggests.
The Young People's Development Programme (YPDP) ran in 27 parts of England between 2004 and 2007, based on a similar model in New York.
It was designed to offer education and support to young people aged 13 to 15 who were deemed at risk of exclusion from school, drug abuse and teenage pregnancy.
A total of 2,371 teenagers took part in the programme to some extent over the three years, at a cost of £2,500 each.
But research out today shows that young women who attended the programme were "significantly" more likely to fall pregnant than those in a comparison group.
A total of 16% of the YPDP group fell pregnant compared with 6% in the other group, which was a youth programme not receiving YPDP funds.
"Young women in the intervention group also more commonly reported early heterosexual experience (58% v 33%) and expectation of teenage parenthood (34% v 24%)," the study said.
This was despite those in the YPDP group receiving education about sex and drugs, being no more sexually active than the other group and some sites distributing free condoms.
The study, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), also found that young women in the YPDP group were more likely to have not used contraception when they most recently had sex.
However, the research did suggest that fewer young people were truanting from school in the YPDP group by the end of the study.
There were little differences between the groups in the number saying they had had contact with the police.
The study was carried out by Meg Wiggins, from the Institute of Education at the University of London and Chris Bonell, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who were commissioned by the Department of Health to independently evaluate the programme.
They followed up both groups for a period of 18 months.
They concluded: "Among young women, YPDP participants more commonly reported teenage pregnancies, early heterosexual sex and expectation of becoming a teenage parent, as well as temporary exclusion from school and truancy.
"No evidence was found that the intervention was effective in delaying heterosexual experience or reducing pregnancies, drunkenness or cannabis use.
"Some results suggested an adverse effect."
However, staff and youngsters did think the programme was a good idea.
"Most young people, staff, parents and other stakeholders rated the YPDP highly," the researchers said.
"Young people were especially positive about the activities on offer and their relationships with staff."
The YPDP was modelled on the US Children's Aid Society-Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Programme, which significantly reduced teenage pregnancies in disadvantaged areas of New York.
However, a 2005 study of attempted replications elsewhere in the US did not find similar benefits.
In an accompanying BMJ editorial Douglas Kirby, a senior research scientist based in the US, said the results of the English study showed that, at best, the programme had no impact, and at worst had a negative impact.
"But this does not mean that all youth development approaches are ineffective," he added.
"For example, programmes may be more effective when implemented by charismatic staff, when they facilitate access to reproductive health services, when the staff connect with the teenage participants or when the staff give a strong clear message about avoiding unprotected sex.
"Programmes may be less effective when one or more of these conditions are not met."
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: "Overall, teenage pregnancy rates have been going down for the last 10 years.
"It's right that we continue to look for new ways of reaching out to young girls to prevent them from getting pregnant.
"This pilot was based on a successful American programme. It didn't appear to reduce teenage pregnancy so we will not be taking it any further."
Richard McKie, national programme manager for health at the National Youth Agency, said the YPDP had left a legacy which was still proving useful.
"Since the end of YPDP in 2007, we have been utilising the wealth of learning generated by YPDP projects up and down England to create the Youth Work 4 Health initiative," he said.
"Led by the National Youth Agency, this programme provides training - both traditional and through e-learning - and resources to make health a greater and more successful focus within work with young people, especially the most vulnerable.
"This month alone has seen the launch of the Health Activities Resource Pack and the health-e online training tool, the first of its kind for youth workers."
Shadow health secretary, Andrew Lansley, said: "It is deeply concerning that we have the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe.
"It demonstrates that education and information alone are not enough.
"We need to look at the underlying reasons behind risky behaviour and work out the best way to help teenagers make the right choices."
Reader views (4)
Stuart Dunstable, I believe the thinking is that if the teenagers are not promised benefits they will take care not to procreate, at least until they have their own means. So the child should not be punished as s/he would not exist. And in the cases where a child is born anyway, benefits should be directed at him/her rather than the mother.
- Curtis, UK, 08/07/2009 16:40
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Steve, JK. Do you really want to punish the child by not giving support?
This is a wider problem that stated in this article. It is cultural and sending a few kids on course isnt going to help with this.
- Stuart, Dunstable, Uk, 08/07/2009 12:30
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Don't give them any benefit and see what they do.
- Steve, London, 08/07/2009 11:16
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Carry on giving them housing, benefits and of course they are going to keep on popping out the children. Start there and then I'm sure these young girls who want to move out won't be getting pregnant. I've seen it first hand.
- Jk, London, 08/07/2009 09:39
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