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Impact of the ‘Providing Access to Continued Education’ Programme on Repeat Teenage Pregnancy in The Bahamas

Issue: 
DOI: 
10.7727/wimj.2014.281
Pages: 
332-6

 

Objective: To determine the relationship of determinants such as age, ethnicity, education and sexual behaviour with repeat teenage pregnancy and to determine the impact of  Providing Access to Continued Education (PACE) Programme in reducing repeat teenage pregnancy amongst its participants in the Bahamas.  

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 397 attendees of adolescent health centre (AHC). Eighty-eight out of 139 registered participants completed PACE programme. Data on age, ethnicity, education, sexual behaviour and repeat pregnancy in two-years were analysed for descriptive statistics and association of demographic characteristics and participation in PACE programme with repeat pregnancy using the Chi-squared test.

Results: Mean age of participants was 16.4 ± 1.1 years; median school grade and mean GPA was 11 and 1.97 ± 0.7, respectively. The mean age at the first sexual activity was 14.9 ± 1.2 years. The mean age and number of sexual partners were 21 ± 4.3 years and 2 ± 1, respectively. Overall repeat pregnancy rate was 39%, 37.4% amongst PACE registered and 31.8% amongst PACE completed mothers. No significant difference was observed in repeat pregnancy between registered and non-registered as well as those who completed the programme and those who did not. The OR of 0.525 suggested that completion of the PACE programme had a moderate protective effect on reducing repeat pregnancy.

Conclusion: Age, ethnicity, education and sexual behaviour showed no association with repeat pregnancy. PACE programme did not reduce repeat pregnancy rate significantly. However, completion of the programme offered a moderate protection.

Accepted: 
31 Oct, 2014
PDF Attachment: 
e-Published: 15 May, 2015
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