How to Deal With the Problem of Teen Pregnancy - Coursework Example

Social Science Research The process of policymaking affects significantly by teenage pregnancy as well as bullying. The way a problem is stated or a problem is outlined controls the forms of answers that are projected. Frequently, policy makers take diverse sides of a concern of how to deal with the problem of teen pregnancy. A number of policy makers notice that teen pregnancy should be dealt with via only self-discipline education for young individuals, while others think that there is the requirement for broad sex as well as reproductive health learning and access to way of defence against pregnancy as well as disease. A few might debate that teen pregnancy is not a crisis or is a coherent reaction to a given set of health and cultural situations. In the same way, policy makers have also taken different views on concerns linked with bullying. Debates have focused on the role of conventional approaches in reducing this problem. Initiating Finding out where teen pregnancy and bullying issues are the most common Recognizing the threat and protecting factors that are mainly related to teen pregnancy and bullying within the society Assessing societal resources that are there to assist in decreasing teen pregnancy and bullying Assessing the inclination of the society to accept the approach to deal with the identified issues The US is extensively mentioned as having the maximum live birth rate between fifteen to nineteen years old females. Latest figures prove that the government objective of halving teenage conceptions by 2015 is impossible to be met: conceptions in females less than sixteen years of age increased by 5 percent between 2010 and 2011. Research shows that a combination of access to expertise and facilities along with the opportunity to get the schooling and employment essential to be successful in society is linked with decrease in rates of teenage pregnancy. “Social disadvantage and teenage pregnancy are strongly associated” (Harden, p. 339). In countries where teenagers have inclusion in the opportunities of living within an economically developed society, they are more determined to avoid early parenthood. Social disadvantage and bullying is both a reason as well as a result of teenage pregnancy. Bullying can be seen as a practice within which people are isolated from their society and from mutual standards due to “exclusionary practices of the socially included” (Lehti et al, p. 51); as a lack of identification of fundamental rights; and because of personal preference and institutional difficulties along with types of prejudice. The concept of bullying goes further than a concern for financial resources or essential requirements in its stress on contribution and participation. Bullying is defined as the use of power or influence, to threaten a person, usually to force him or her to do what one wants. Information A small work group should be started to collect data Assistance from the state teen pregnancy association can obtained if needed Relevant data can be gathered from society discussions, dialogues with professionals, studies, and research of current data and statistics Research on the relevant issues is a great support in updating policy process. Such evidence incorporates assessment about which interventions might work for whom and in which circumstances, both to stop unplanned teenage pregnancy and bullying. The field of pertinent study also incorporates qualitative and other forms of research efforts of the views and experiences of young people themselves regarding the issues causing bullying behavior, and regarding policy initiatives that are capable of adapting these issues. Consideration A clear health goal should be formed along with different activities address the program A clear set of required result should be developed, concentrating on the teenage pregnancy and bullying - the two main factors on which the policy is focusing What does seem to be functioning is the synergy between various aspects operating on various levels simultaneously. The policies have been assessed and proven useful and have been recognized as necessary by specialists in the field. It is essential that policies targeted at decreasing teen pregnancy and bullying focus both on the policies related services as well as those related to education, and the basic causes of teen pregnancy, together with poverty and lack of prospects. Policies that focus on these issues fit into three categories: first is comprehensive education on related issues in the educational institutions; second is easy access to contraceptives and teen-centric reproductive health services; and third are approaches that encourage positive growth and positive life prospects for youth (Hoem, p. 740). There is a broadly held belief that one of the most successful pregnancy prevention strategies is to give youth a sympathetic setting and an encouraging sense of the future. Youth development plans are another way to enhance life skills and life options for youth who may be likely to become pregnant since they identify a lack of prospects. A number of these plans have had positive outcomes, showing a drop in birth or pregnancy rates as well as a lessening in sexual and other forms of risk-taking attitudes. Youth development plans mostly incorporate various combination of “job readiness training, youth-led business ventures, peer teaching or counseling, academic tutoring, recreation, mentoring, community service work, life skills training, and other forms of opportunity and support” (Bunting & Colette, p. 299). Teen pregnancy prevention can be an essential component of youth development programs in the shape of learning and links to better health facilities. Policies that sustain youth development take account of state, region, or city’s financial support for programs that help youth development; development in youth service support; and the integration of job prospects provided via businesses into policies that support business involvement in these issues. Decision Financing should be obtained to avoid any hindrance in the effective flow of the process. Goodwill about the planned actions should be generated and people should be informed about the ways to control teen pregnancy as well as bullying. Associations with recognized organizations, which are working in the same field, are helpful in identifying local supporters for sexual health of youth Direct interventions, enhancing sex education programs and guaranteeing access to teen friendly reproductive health facilities are crucially significant elements of any wide-ranging policy. However, two other issues are also important in indentifying a sufficient teen pregnancy plan or intervention: poverty and lack of life alternatives. Policymakers should also concentrate on these two dominant fundamental reasons of teen pregnancy. To be completely successful, teen pregnancy avoidance policies should endorse expanded financial prospects and potential life options for youth; sustain family units in ways that promote enhanced family functioning; and promote the growth of societies that are encouraging towards youth (Duncan, p. 324). Policies must target those who are most at a greater risk - the underprivileged, cultural minorities, and youth with inadequate chances in life- and be culturally suitable, considering the nation’s diverse population. Various research studies verify that involvement in broad sexual education programs as well as access to reproductive health facilities are successful policies for stopping teen pregnancies. The remarkable decline in the teen birth rate during the last decade indicates successful policies as well as approaches that consist of better public awareness regarding AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Particularly, focus has been on concentration on males for policies influencing reproductive attitude; an increase in traditionalist mind-sets towards pre-marital sex; an better focus on child support; dynamic financial development; and use of innovative techniques of contraception, for instance, “Depo-Provera and Norplant” (Lisa, p. 99), besides thorough education about sex and access to contraceptives. Implementation There should be a system for tracking proper influence of the policy, monitoring its reliability, and following the outcomes. A large number of factors influence the teen pregnancy level within a community. Around thirty years of research signify that, to be effective, policies to decrease teen pregnancy should be broad in their approach. It is known that family unit as well as peer groups influences youth activities, that cultural significances as well as the value of program interventions are significant, and that successful policies at the state and local levels can be a dominant tool for dealing with teen pregnancy (Lawlor & Mary, p. 552). Policy matters in several ways. On the most fundamental level, policies can have a great effect by only enhancing, or decreasing, the resources presented to support plans and services. Just as significant, extremely politicized public policy discussions control and usually decide the forms of facilities presents, to what youth, and under which situation. Dependence on moderation-only planning, the level of education in educational institutions, the existence or lack of consulting rooms within schools, and concerns of parental notice are only a couple of examples of the control social policy can have on planning and, eventually, on teen pregnancy rates as well as the resultant bullying issue. Besides, the policy can cause key modifications in social standards, for instance, the value placed on teen self-discipline or on “responsible sexual decision making” (Furstenberg et al, p. 313). Revised social standards may give a chance to think about using strategies that would not have been taken into account under old norms. Eventually, successfully dealing with teen pregnancy needs not just changing the attitude of youth, but altering the mind-sets as well as activities of adults as also. Adults manage the media, the messages that affect youth mind-set, the resources saved for planning, the circumstance within which youth develop their inspirations, and the penalty or incentive youth get for their conduct. Public behavior towards “sexuality, family, personal responsibility, and the value of children both drive the public policy debate and are influenced by it” (Garland & Edward, p. 169). Everybody knows that bullying has turn into a major problem for students. There is not a single person who is more likely to be bullied than another, and as a society, one agrees that individuals should have access to learning without the concern that they will be discriminated against or bullied. However, it takes place every single day and teenage mothers are no exception to this rule. If the staff as well as support people deliberately make a teen mother’s life difficult and make it more complicated for young mothers to get education or other facilities of life, they are violating the law and they are bullies. The law against bullying protects individuals from discrimination based on “sex or pregnancy, childbirth, false pregnancy, termination of pregnancy, or recovery there from” (Darroch et al, p. 254). Evaluation A process evaluation should begin earlier than the program and carry on while the policy in being implemented. A methodical evaluation is a specialist analysis method that uses standardized as well as explicit approaches. These approaches are used with the aim of reducing the possibility of drawing the incorrect or confusing conclusion from a body of data and incorporate probing comprehensively to get all pertinent material, evaluating the value of the research and the application of comprehensive methods to synthesize results. “When research results are numerical, statistical meta-analysis can be used to synthesize findings” (Darroch et al, p. 255). In an assessment of usefulness, a statistical meta-investigation collects or combines the effect sizes from individual assessments. Approaches for the combination of non-numerical results or qualitative research are still in the developmental phase. Examples include “meta-ethnography, meta-study, and thematic analysis” (Darroch et al, p. 256). These forms of syntheses try to appreciate the event under review from the perceptions of the individuals being studied and they generate fresh accounts, hypotheses, or understandings instead of cumulative effect sizes. Termination Existing policies in the US, with their concentration on teen pregnancy and bullying, have mainly surpassed conventional views of pregnant teenagers as immature and feeble people, counting them instead with those whose social state of affairs make them susceptible and more likely to be forced out of normal society into ‘least popular places’. This view expands the concentration of policy initiatives ahead of the conventional focus on learning agendas. The majority of attempts to stop unplanned teenage pregnancy have concentrated on enhancing the understanding as well as abilities of young people regarding the access as well as use of contraception through education about sex and better sexual health facilities. This strategy overlooks the part of other issues related with teenage pregnancy, for instance, social drawback and lack of education. In the same way, majority of the services for pregnant teens have mostly unable to give the holistic cure needed to support societal inclusion or communal re-integration (Jones & Forest, p. 59). The resultant disorder to their schooling as well as employment is hence more likely to have unfavorable material and social outcomes. Dealing with the harassment related to teenage pregnancy has been a government’s priority in the policy making process. Two nationwide objectives were set during the 2000; first was to decrease the rate of unplanned teenage conceptions by 50 percent in females less than 18 years of age by the year 2015, and second was to ascertain that 60 percent of teenage-mothers are in teaching, schooling, or service by 2015. These plans have been coordinated by the Department of Health and are connected with other initiatives and objectives to incorporate fragmented facilities, and enhance these with extra resources and people (Levin-Epstein, p. 323). The Department of Health is dedicated to persistent attempts to put a stop to “out-of-wedlock teen pregnancies and to encourage adolescents to remain abstinent” (Smith, p. 138). Policies are developed on the belief that the most successful plans are community-driven and encourage the participation of parents as well as other adults in young individuals’ lives. By concentrating on self-discipline as well as personal accountability, the Department hopes to help young individuals to develop their aptitude to make the choices that will get them towards a successful future. The budget for fiscal year 2010 offers an additional 41 million USD in funding for abstinence education. Works Cited Bunting, Lisa, and Colette McAuley. 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