Consultation on the Pregnancy and Parenthood in Young People Strategy

Developing the Strategy

In 2013, the Health and Sport Committee held an inquiry into teenage pregnancy in Scotland. One of the recommendations from the inquiry was for a stand-alone strategy for Scotland to further progress teenage pregnancy, moving the focus away from a solely health-based agenda, and to continue to act on the wider determinants. In order to address this complex area, the strategy was developed using a collaborative approach as described below.

Strategy Steering Group

The Pregnancy and Parenthood in Young People Strategy Steering Group was an advisory group to the Scottish Government, providing recommendations on the content and development of the Strategy based on their expert knowledge, experience and evidence. The Strategy Steering Group supported the development; approved content of the draft strategy, provided strategic leadership and guidance to develop a multi-disciplinary strategy with full partnership engagement. Membership of the Steering Group can be found at appendix 2.

Involving Young People

The Pregnancy and Parenthood in Young People Strategy has been developed both with and for young people. Young Scot carried out a 'co-design' process which sought the views of young people and young parents through an online survey and through four focus groups (supporting document). To supplement this, the Scottish Government also linked with other local parenting groups, including young fathers in Her Majesty's Young Offenders Institution Polmont, in order to obtain the views and attitudes of wide range of young people and young parents (supporting document). The results of these engagement exercises, along with the views of professionals and high level evidence, have been central in informing the content of the strategy.

Outcomes Framework

A logic model was developed (appendix 3) to help determine the short, medium and long term outcomes of the Strategy. This is designed to support and inform policy makers, planners, evaluators and researchers. It may also help community planning partners (and others) develop an outcomes-focussed approach to planning and performance in supporting young people in their own area. The Strategy was developed using review level evidence^[19] to inform an outcome framework. A summary of review level evidence can be found in appendix 4. It should be noted that for a variety of reasons we do not always have 'good' review level evidence for all the links in the logic model. This lack of evidence, however, does not necessarily mean there is no link between two components in the logic model nor that evidence of effectiveness does not exist, it may be that it has not been reported or evaluated. Similarly, lack of evidence should not always prevent us from acting. In some instances plausible theory has been drawn on to explain the links in the model. An outcomes triangle and results chains have not been fully developed but are still being considered.