PREGNANCY PREVENTION AMONG URBAN ADOLESCENTS YOUNGER THAN 15 - RESULTS OF THE IN YOUR FACE PROGRAM

Data from a pregnancy prevention program operating through school-base d clinics in four New York City junior high schools suggest that an in tensive risk-identification and case-management approach may be effect ive among very young adolescents. Among students given a referral to a family planning clinic for contraception, the proportion who visited the clinic and obtained a method rose from 11% in the year before the program began to 76% in the program's third year. Pregnancy rates amon g teenagers younger than 15 decreased by 34% over four years in the pr ogram schools. In the fourth year of the program, the pregnancy rate i n one school that was unable to continue the program was almost three times the average rate for the other three schools (16.5 pregnancies p er 1,000 female students vs. 5.8 per 1,000).