Life Skill Development Program to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy among Early Adolescent Girls in Foster Homes

Abstract

The two-group quasi-experimental research with pretest, posttest and follow-up aimed to examine the result of Life Skill Development Program to prevent teenage pregnancy among early adolescents’ girls in foster homes.  The participants (n = 60), were young girls, aged 10 -14, residing in foster homes in Thailand. Each home was randomly assigned to either an experimental or a comparison group (n = 30 each). Life skills were used as the conceptual basis for the teenage pregnancy prevention program. The program included participatory learning and social support. The program was 4 activities: (1) self-assessment improvement; (2) self-awareness about sexual changes and adolescent development; (3) critical thinking about teenage pregnancy, and; (4) learning and, practicing denies and negotiate. The duration of the study was 4 weeks. Thereafter, the participants were assessed on their life skills of self-esteem, self-awareness, critical thinking, ability to deny and negotiate, and on pregnancy prevention behaviors. Data were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics, and were expressed as percentage, mean, and standard deviation. In addition to using Independent t –test, Chi-square, Likelihood Ratio Fisher’s Exact test, and Two-way repeated measures ANOVA, repeated one-way ANOVA, and post hoc analysis with Bonferroni correction. 

The results showed that the experimental group had a mean of difference score of Life Skill on self-awareness and pregnancy prevention behavior significantly higher than that of the comparison group (p < 0.05). Otherwise, there were no statistically difference of Life Skill on self-esteem, critical thinking, and ability to deny and negotiate from before and the comparison group. The program can be applied for enhancing life skill on self-awareness, and pregnancy prevention behavior among female early adolescents in foster homes.