Teenage Parents for Paediatrics professionals

This session looks at teenage pregnancy rates in the UK and identifies the associated risk factors. It explores health outcomes faced by young parents and their children with recommendations as to how health professionals can help improve the lives of young families.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Identify current trends in teenage conceptions and births in the UK in an international context
• List factors that increase the risk of, or protect against, teenage pregnancy and young parenthood
• Describe the health outcomes of young parenthood for both the child and the parents
• Identify issues relating to working with young people when they become parents during adolescence

Different ages are used to define teenage mothers in different contexts. National statistics for the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy and the indicator in the Public Health Outcomes Framework refer to conceptions to young women under 18; the Every Child Matters Programme covers under 19s; and breastfeeding and smoking rates from the Infant Feeding Survey use under 20s as the youngest age group. Maternity services for teenagers use various age cut-off levels depending on local needs and resources.