A Health Belief Model Approach to Adolescents' Fertility Control: Some Pilot Program Findings
Eisen, Marvin; Zellman, Gail, L.; McAlister, Alfred, L.; Eisen, Marvin, University of Texas at Austin; Zellman, Gail, L., Rand Corporation, Santa Monica; McAlister, Alfred, L., University of Texas, Health Sciences Center at Houston
Журнал:
Health Education & Behavior
Дата:
1985
Аннотация:
We report initial findings from a community-based intervention intended to strengthen un married teenagers' fertility control behaviors (i.e., abstinence or consistent contraceptive usage). The Health Belief Model (HBM) was used as a conceptual framework for developing curriculum materials and for evaluating a 15-hour educational program targeted at 13- to 17-year-olds of both genders. Interview data pertaining to sexual and contraceptive perceptions, knowledge, and behaviors were collected three times in a no-control, short-term, longitudinal study design: (1) just before; (2) immediately after; and (3) three to six months following the intervention. Dependent variables of major interest were changes in perceptions, knowledge, and self-reported fertility control behaviors. Based on data from the 120 teenagers who completed the followup (80% of those completing the intervention), we found: (1) consistent contraceptive usage in creased significantly; (2) changes in HBM-based contraceptive perceptions and sexual knowledge at immediate post-testing were predictive of increases in contraceptive usage at longer followup; and (3) the majority (62%) remained abstinent from pre-intervention to followup. These findings, study limitations, and suggestions for a future controlled study are then discussed.
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