Page 62 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 8
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Christian Psychology as a Challenge
one interaction as needed. When an organisati- safe and supportive environment. Adolescents
on offers Centering Pregnancy, the women have realize that they can change health behaviours
access to their chart; they take their own blood and gain support from other young women in
pressure and do their own urine tests with the the group (Grady & Bloom, 2004).
guidance of a midwife (Rising, 1998). Women
take an active role in their prenatal care, that is, 3.4 Centering pregnancy incorporates cultural
Centering is a very empowering role during the perspectives
pregnancy. Centering Pregnancy is considerate of the cul-
tural backgrounds of participants and encoura-
3.2 Low socio-economic factors and teenage ges discussion. Centering pregnancy is a pro-
pregnancy gram that‘s quite popular in California public
Socio-economic circumstances play a key role hospitals where most of the participants are
in the numbers of teen pregnancy. Young wo- of Latin-American descent. During the group
men from low-income families are getting discussions the Latin-American women would
pregnant in higher numbers than those from talk in Spanish about a whole range of topics
middle and upper income families. Literature from eating healthy to dealing with problems at
shows that young girls living in poverty have a home.
teen pregnancy rate, which is five times the ave-
rage (Hunt, 2004). Children of teenage parents Women of lower socioeconomic status, of racial
are more likely to have problems and to even- minorities, and adolescent women often have
tually become teenage parents themselves, thus lower attendance at prenatal education classes
preserving the cycle of poverty initiated by a (Carrol et al., 2001). Challenges to retention in
teenage birth (Pro-Action, Postponement, and prenatal care are common. In a prenatal care
Preparation/Support). Adolescents tend to be randomized controlled trial which sought to
self-focused, and most believe that no one un- find the determining characteristics of women
derstands them or their situation (Gullota et al., who drop out of prenatal care found that women
1999). Pregnant adolescents from low-socioe- who live under challenging circumstances were
conomic circumstances need unique assistance difficult to retain in a prenatal care, regardless
to cope and make well-informed choices in the of the intervention (Tough, Siever & Johnston,
future. 2007). For women with difficult health, lifestyle
and social issues, lack of retention may be due
3.3 Centering Pregnancy and adolescents to incongruence between their needs and the
The model is based on a premise that both adult program (Tough, Siever & Johnston, 2007). To
and teen women benefit from. The unique de- help retain women and ensure that they receive
velopmental needs of the pregnant adolescent sufficient prenatal care, prenatal programs need
require attention when designing prenatal care to consider assessing how well their programs
services. Many adolescents enter pregnan- are meeting the needs of their clienteles, inclu-
cy with poor health habits, and many do not ding consideration of cultural traditions, psy-
make the necessary adjustments in lifestyle that chosocial variables, and lifestyle factors (Tough,
are necessary to promote a healthy pregnancy Siever & Johnston, 2007). Prior to the develop-
(Grady & Bloom, 2004). Teens often receive li- ment of new program, input from women less
mited or no prenatal care. The Centering Preg- likely to complete prenatal programs may be
nancy model of group prenatal care provides valuable to identify barriers to service, which
education and support for young women in could be addressed in the design phase (Bedics,
an active and developmentally appropriate en- 1994). Incentives for participation in prena-
vironment. Research shows that the Centering tal care may also help retain women in prena-
Pregnancy model works well for adolescents tal care programs. Tough, Siever & Johnston,
(Grady & Bloom, 2004). Centering Pregnancy (2007) conclude that, “even under a universal
allows adolescents to explore their feelings and system of care and with supplementary prenatal
concerns about pregnancy and parenting in a support, optimal birth and early childhood out-
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