Consultation on the Pregnancy and Parenthood in Young People Strategy: Analysis of Responses
Analysis of written responses to the draft Pregnancy and Parenthood in Young People Strategy.
Annex B. Evidence and Research
The consulation on the draft Strategy was accompanied by a review of published high-level evidence. The studies were drawn primarily from health related sources and the review was not intended to be a comprehensive critical review of all the available evidence.
Question 13: Are you aware of any high level evidence which has not been included in this review which the Scottish Government should consider before finalising the Strategy?
Twenty respondents provided a response to this question. Most cited additional high level evidence which they recommended for consideration by the Scottish Government prior to the Strategy being finalised. The information provided is summarised in Table 3. These references have not been verified for accuracy or usefulness but are listed to reflect their inclusion in responses to this consultation.
Table 3: Additional high level evidence cited by respondents
| School-based sex education Healthy Respect – national sexual health demonstration project: Wight, D. and Stephenson, J. (2007) ‘School based sex education: Evaluating teacher-delivered (SHARE) and peer-delivered (RIPPLE) programmes.’ In Baker, P, Guthrie, K, Hutchinson, C, Kane, R and Wellings, K (eds) Teenage Pregnancy and Reproductive Health. RCOG Press: London.) |
Comments from respondents These evaluations imply that attempting further improvement is unlikely, in itself, to have much impact on young people’s sexual health. |
| Parental involvement in young people’s sexual health |
This review found that the strongest evidence for interventions which modified young people’s behaviour were fairly intensive programmes, all involving parents for at least 14 hours. Attempts to involve Scottish parents in programmes to improve their children’s sexual health have generally failed, as demonstrated in the Healthy Respect project. |
| Young fathers/Fathering |
While addressing experiences of men from a range of ages, this study found that young fathers suffered from many of the risk factors identified in the consultation report, namely that they: were resident in areas of deprivation; had poor attendance at school; had low educational attainment; were care leavers; and were in contact with the justice system. |
| Young people at transitions Growing Up in Scotland (GUS) survey Emma Young (2015) Care Leavers as Young Parents, |
Focus on key transitions areas for young people. Relevant learning from this survey should be considered by Community Planning Partnerships to assess children’s progress at key transitions to identify any changes in support needs and to inform appropriate service planning at a community level. CELCIS briefing distils key messages from research regarding young people in and leaving care. It notes that information for this group is limited in the Scottish context. |
| Methodological approaches http://www.gov.scot/Topics/People/Young-People/early-years/early-years-collaborative |
Practical example of improvement methodology in action. |
| Influence of home-visiting support Kenkre, J and Young, E (2013). Building Resilience: volunteer support for families with complex circumstances and needs. Leicester: Home-Start UK. |
Research available on Home Start website which illustrates the possible benefits to parents and children when they receive paraprofessional home-visiting support www.home-start.org.uk |
| Wider influences on early pregnancy Uggla, C. and Mace, R. (2015). ‘Local ecology influences reproductive timing in Northern Ireland independently of individual wealth’, Behavioral Ecology Pickett, K and Wilkinson, R. (2009) The Spirit Level. London: Allen Lane. |
Draws on accumulated international evidence to demonstrate the harmful effects of inequality, and the 2015 paper argues that causation can be established. Their proposed mechanism is that inequality increases the social distance of status between people, and that status, or social class, is the underlying determinant of outcomes. |
| Young fathers/mothers/babies in prison NSPCC (2014) Baby Steps in a Prison Context. |
Research in 2010 indicated that within the prison population of Polmont Youth Offenders Institution, one in three young men were actual or expectant fathers. |
| Economics Adverse Childhood Experiences study: |
Ongoing collaborative work with relevant findings regarding the relationship between good practice in early years and later state intervention costs. |
| Others NHS GGCdata RCGP Child Health Strategy 2010 to 2015: The Centre for Social Justice: "Underage conceptions and abortions in England and Wales: the role of public policy". Education and Health, 30 (2): 22-24. (Paton, D. 2012) |
NHS GGC produce a range of relevant, high level data which would supports this strategy development. Extensive research showing benefits of stability in families and adverse effects of instability on teenage sexual behaviour. David Paton suggests that the easy availability of contraception and access to abortion services reduces the perceived "cost" of early sexual activity. He concludes that widespread availability to such services is counterproductive as it leads to an increase, rather than a decrease, in sexual activity. |
General comments
Whilst one respondent (Joint) explicitly welcomed the high level evidence review accompanying the draft Strategy as useful, another (LA) considered its usefulness limited due to what they perceived to be an over focus on the North American context with its higher pregnancy rate and different healthcare system. A few respondents called for more evidence on life history theory (Ind); access to information in Scandinavian countries (NHS); and stigma and discrimination relating to young people and pregnancy, sexual orientation and same sex relationships (Joint).
How to access background or source data
The data collected for this social research publication:
are available in more detail through Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics
are available via an alternative route: responses will be published on the Scottish Government website
may be made available on request, subject to consideration of legal and ethical factors. Please contact <email address> for further information.
cannot be made available by Scottish Government for further analysis as Scottish Government is not the data controller.
Contact
Email: Fiona MacDonald
There is a problem
Thanks for your feedback