Social Determinants and Teen Pregnancy Prevention: Exploring the Role of Nontraditional Partnerships

Abstract

Addressing the social determinants of health (SDOH) that influence teen pregnancy is paramount to eliminating disparities and achieving health equity. Expanding prevention efforts from purely individual behavior change to improving the social, political, economic, and built environments in which people live, learn, work, and play may better equip vulnerable youth to adopt and sustain healthy decisions. In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in partnership with the Office of Adolescent Health funded state- and community-based organizations to develop and implement the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Community-Wide Initiative. This effort approached teen pregnancy from an SDOH perspective, by identifying contextual factors that influence teen pregnancy and other adverse sexual health outcomes among vulnerable youth. Strategies included, but were not limited to, conducting a root cause analysis and establishing nontraditional partnerships to address determinants identified by community members. This article describes the value of an SDOH approach for achieving health equity, explains the integration of such an approach into community-level teen pregnancy prevention activities, and highlights two project partners' efforts to establish and nurture nontraditional partnerships to address specific SDOH.

Fecundidad en adolescentes y desigualdades sociales en México, 2015

“…El presente estudio muestra la importancia del contexto social y económico que se asocia a mayores tasas de embarazo en adolescentes, lo cual es congruente con lo reportado en otros estudios, donde se resalta cómo la adquisición de valores y aspiraciones de los adolescentes está determinada por el nivel socioeconómico (28, 29).…”

Care of Adolescent Parents and Their Children

“…These efforts involve forging partnerships between health care programs and nontraditional groups, such as male mentorship programs and transportation services. 105 A broader focus on the communities where teenagers and their children live, rather than just a focus on individuals, may also assist in decreasing other social disadvantages for teenagers. 61 For many teen parents and their children, poverty plays a key role in the difficult circumstances in which the children are raised.…”

Determinantes sociais da saúde relacionados à gravidez na adolescência

“…No Brasil, um estudo concluiu que a maioria das adolescentes realizaram as consultas do pré-natal conforme os critérios do Ministério da Saúde, destacando que 67,2% das puérperas adolescentes realizaram seis ou mais consultas 21 . O estabelecimento de parcerias não tradicionais pode ajudar jovens vulneráveis com maior risco de gravidez na adolescência e outros resultados adversos para a saúde, sendo os determinantes sociais da saúde importantes para eliminar as disparidades e alcançar a equidade em saúde 14 .…”