Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Program - Essay Example

Monitoring of Education as a form of Teenage Prevention Program Introduction Psychologists have overtime reaffirmed the fact that the adolescent stage, which is routinely dominated by teenagers, is the most challenging phase of life. This is because it is the transformation period where children acquire the necessary skills they need to navigate through to adulthood. One of the major challenges facing the youthful stage is teenage pregnancy, which as discussed in previous projects has been extensive in the past (Kirby, 2007). The federal and state governments, as well as stakeholders in various industries, have over time held the opinion that sex education is the ideal strategy of putting an end to this ugly trend. This thought often denies several teenagers the opportunity to bring the best out of themselves. This essay aims to provide insight into the process of monitoring and evaluating sex education based on the Wagner’s chronic care model, thereby establishing the effectiveness of the model. Monitoring The Wagner’s chronic model would come in handy in monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of sex education as a mechanism for preventing teenage pregnancy. This is because the model would aim towards establishing a productive collaboration between the teenagers taking part in the sex education program, and the expatriates tasked with the responsibility of enlightening the teenagers on all they need to know about sexual maturity. In as much as teenagers would be the target population of the program, one of its essential components would be bringing on board all the concerned parties, which include friends and family (Maskey, 2011). Additionally, the model would aim towards ensuring the teenagers are in a position to manage most of their situations. Monitoring sex education under the Wagner Chronic model would no doubt be achievable, for it emphasizes on incorporating supervising mechanisms during the process of planning for the program. This would come in handy for monitoring has over time been carried out in the last stages of executing an action plan. In like manner, the Wagner Chronic model is efficient because it identifies the outcome indicators that are to be used in the monitoring process. In this program, the outcome measures would be to compare data on the rate of teenage pregnancies over the years to that of the present day. To ensure that the program is carried out according to the plan, the model emphasizes on the progress report being released twice in a year; notably, after every half of the year. Over and above, the Wagner’s chronic model ensures that an entity is put up tasked with the solely tasked with the monitoring process and that the progress reports are presented to an organ of higher stature. Evaluation Evaluation commonly refers to the process of assessing the quality of a program, with the aim of determining its effectiveness (Gudda, 2011). Researchers have over time reaffirmed the position that evaluation is a sensitive process and that the assessment team should often ascertain that the inferences and verdicts they arrive at are valid. Several methods can be employed in evaluating the effectiveness of sex education as a mechanism for preventing teenage pregnancy including the management orientated systems model, which focuses on reviewing all the techniques used in the program. The model is ideal for sex education program given that it emphasizes on comprehensiveness in the course of the evaluation process. Additionally, the model routinely ensures that the evaluation is placed within a large framework in the organizational structure. The participant-oriented model can similarly be used as a method of evaluating sex education, as a means of preventing teenage pregnancy. This is majorly because it puts much emphasis on the participants who take part in the program, who, in this case, shall be the teenagers being subjected to sex education syllabuses. Outcome Measures The essential objective of sex education would be to reduce and over time eliminate the high incidence of teenage pregnancies that are often registered in various states. In the sex education program, the outcome measure would be the number of teenage pregnancies being registered. The objective of the program shall have been achieved in case the number of teenage pregnancies reduces and become minimal. On the other hand, the aims of the program shall not have been achieved in case the numbers of pregnancies remain stagnant (Raneri et al., 2007). Additionally, the program shall be considered a complete failure in case the records of teenage pregnancies rise. The outcome measure of the program highlighted above is valid and reliable, given that all the related data would be provided by healthcare facilities who routinely take teenagers through the entire pregnancy process. Consequently, it is imperative to note that the data would come in handy in supplementing the program, and would be essential in determining the effectiveness of sex education as the program for preventing teenage pregnancy. Data Collection In an ideal situation, females often report to respective medical facilities after conceiving, with the aim of being taken through a safe pregnancy period, and this includes teenagers. To this effect, it is imperative to note that registration stands out as the ideal method of data collection, for the teens who report for both antenatal and postnatal care will be included in the statistics. Resources As is the case in all other evaluation processes, valuation of sex education program would require both human, material and financial resources (Saewyc, 2008). Human resource would be in the form of the persons carrying out the valuation while material assets would refer to the facilities used in executing the valuation process. Any funds required in the valuation process would amount to financial resources. Feasibility Several establishments often carry out an evaluation of most of their projects to determine the level of success (Gosling et al., 2006). Feasibility is integral in any assessment process, as it provides light on the cost of the entire procedure. Evaluating sex education as the program of preventing teenage pregnancy is feasible, as most of the data required for carrying out the evaluation would be provided by healthcare facilities as highlighted in the section above. References Gosling, L., Edwards, M., & Save the Children Fund (Great Britain). (2006). Toolkits: A practical guide to assessment, monitoring, review, and evaluation. London: Save the Children. Gudda, P. (2011). A guide to project monitoring & evaluation. Kirby, D. (2007). Emerging Answers 2007: Research Findings of Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Diseases. New York. Fountain Publishers. Maskey, S. (2011). Teenage pregnancy: doubts, uncertainties, and psychiatric disorders. Journal of Royal Society of Medicine. Raneri, G. & Wiemann, M. (2007). Social ecological predictors of repeat adolescent pregnancy. John Wiley & Sons. Saewyc, E. (2008). Stigma management? The links between enacted stigma and teenage pregnancy trends among gay, lesbian and bisexual students in British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality. Appendix Source: http://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/aboutteenpreg.htm 1991-2011 rates from: Martin JA, Hamilton BE, Ventura SJ, Osterman MJK, Curtin SC, and Mathews TJ. Births: Final data for 2011. Natl Vital Stat Rep. 2013; 62(1): Table A. 2012 rates from: Martin JA, Hamilton BE, Osterman MJK, Curtin SC, Mathews TJ. Births: Final data for 2012. Natl Vital Stat Rep. 2013; 62(9): Table A. Read More