Paper
Thursday, 20 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Adolescent Health Issues
Evidence-Based Practice: Implementation of the Nurse Practitioner Model for Promoting Health Seeking Behaviors in Teenage Mothers
Donna M. Hallas, PhD, APRN, BC, CPNP, Lienhard School of Nursing, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY, USA and Mary Beth Koslap Petraco, MS, APRN, BC, CPNP, Pediatrics, Suffolk County Department of Health, Amityville, NY, USA.
Learning Objective #1: Evaluate educational materials that can be used in clinical practice to enhance the health seeking and health promotion behaviors of teenage mothers.
Learning Objective #2: Implement the Nurse Practitioner Model for Promoting Health Seeking Behaviors in teenage mothers.
A systematic review of the literature was completed to determine health seeking behaviors of teenage mothers and the type and quality of the educational materials available for use in ambulatory health care settings.  The systematic review revealed that many of the studies focused on pregnant teenagers and not on their health seeking behaviors after delivery or on the type and quality of care of they provide to their infants. 

Adolescent mothers whose infants received primary care in two pediatric ambulatory health care centers were asked to participate in a two month educational program.  The Parental Belief Scale and the Behavioral Assessment Scale for Infants were administered to the teenage mothers at the beginning of the study.   From these data, educational materials were designed to support health promotion and health seeking behaviors for themselves and their infants.  The materials were created based on current best evidence for clinical practice with teenage mothers and their infants.  The educational materials included written handouts on a variety of topics, including health promotion for themselves and the infant, health seeking behaviors for themselves and the infants, basic infant care, caring for the infant who is ill, and care of the infant after receiving immunizations.             The health promotion and health seeking behaviors were re-assessed after the teenage mother had participated in the study for two months.  The results revealed that the teenage mothers responded positively to the nurse practitioner model for promoting health seeking behaviors through this evidence-based intervention.

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