Community Nursing Paper (Research Paper Sample)

Nursing Process and Health Promotion: Groups and Community Theory
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Institutional Affiliations
Introduction to Perth Amboy
Perth Amboy is in Middlesex County. Geographically, it is located in the central location of the state Middlesex County. The city is located fifty-five miles from Manhattan and thirty-five kilometers from Philadelphia. It is a quickly growing city in the state, a situation that has led to overcrowding and a high proportion of low-income families (Yablonsky, Aljallad, Walter, & Fagan, 2011). Other than a high percentage of people living below poverty level, the city also faces several challenges including high illiteracy levels and unemployment. Poverty is a concern in the City because despite being located in New Jersey, a state boasting some of the richest towns, it as well has some of the poorest cities, one being Perth Amboy (Yablonsky et al., 2011). However, the biggest concern in Perth Amboy was the alarming rate of teenage pregnancy that has led to most girls dropping out of school and eventually being subjected to poverty.
Assessment of teen pregnancy in Perth Amboy
A windshield survey was carried out to get better understanding on the extent and impact of teenage pregnancy in the city. From the observations, it was noted that teen pregnancy is a major issue in Perth Amboy based on the the high prevalence of young girls who were pregnant. New Jersey as a whole, for example, ranks twenty out of the fifty states in the United States in teenage pregnancy (Yablonsky et al., 2011). At a more specific level, in Perth Amboy High School, the rate of teenage pregnancy is so high that prenatal classes are being offered for pregnant teens to enable them continue with their education (Shahid, 2010). The school is forced to accommodate extra demands and teaching hours for the students. This is an involving undertaking for teachers and the administration because of the extra working hours they are forced to adjust to.
This alarming rate of teenage pregnancy in Perth Amboy, according to Shahid (2010) is attributed to the lack of education on sex, the low-income levels and poverty of families and a lack of self-esteem by students. The girls even suggested that stress was a factor, which they linked with low family income. When stressed, they would engage in sex. This observation of the causes of the high increase in teenage pregnancy tallied with Yablonsky et al.(2011) view of the overall causes of the increased rate of pregnancy in New Jersey. When a girl is stressed about her condition, her whole family gets stressed because of the increased demands associated with pregnancy, especially for families living at poverty levels.
From the two findings, it was noted that teenage pregnancy is a primary concern because it results in trauma, stress, and many other psychological problems to not the girls and their families, but also the community they live in as a whole. In one instance in Perth Amboy High School, an expectant eighteen-year-old girl was even wondering how she was supposed to raise her child when she could not even raise herself (Shahid, 2010). The issue here is that the family is forced to accommodate extra demands from their expectant daughter from example. This leads the family being forced to stretch their resources further, a hard endeavor considering the abject poverty Perth Amboy has been noted to be in.
Based on the windshield observation, coupled with the literature analysis, it was concluded that teenage pregnancy is a primary concern both from a family perspective and Amboy in general. This is because of the trauma associated consequences it has been found to subject young girls and their parents to stress and the associated anxiety. The problem is extreme for family members that they even contemplate neglecting their daughter. Thus, it is noted that the consequences of teenage pregnancy go beyond the girl's setting as it has been shown to impact negatively on their family, school, and the community as a whole.
Literature analysis on significance of teenage pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy incidence in the United States has been on the rise. In 2012 alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that there was a total of over 300, 000 babies born to girls aged between fifteen and nineteen (CDC, 2014). This is a statistic that has led to many concerns over the same. Because of this, teenage pregnancy has quickly become a target for public health. Measures have thus been formulated to reduce the prevalence because of the consequences it has, that range from merely affecting the mother psychologically to the extent of the government involvement.
Teenage pregnancy has significant social and economic consequences at any one given scenario. The impacts could either be short-term or long-term, depending on the circumstances and the severity of contraction (Topics, 2012). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that in 2011, teenage pregnancy and early childbirth cases accounted for almost ten billion of costs to the government to cater for the increased healthcare needs (CDC, 2014). Recent studies have reported that the cost could go as high as twenty-eight billion annually due to the increased heath care and foster care (Topics, 2012). This is a major economic stress factor to the taxpayers who are forced to account for extra needs. It is thus important that teen pregnancy be reduced so that there is minimal lost tax revenue, to enable the government realize economic development.
Moreover, teen pregnancy has contributed to increased illiteracy levels from the increased number of drop-out cases among girls. The CDC reports that by age twenty-two, only fifty percent of the teen mothers receive a high school diploma, compared to ninety percent who receive their diploma certification before giving birth (CDC, 2014). In a different article, it is reported that only about ten percent of teen mothers are able to complete a two- or four-year academic college program (Topics, 2012). From the two observations Shahid (2010) notes that the rate is too high that some institutions have even started offering education and counseling sessions for expectant mothers to enable them continue with their education and tackle stress issues. Teen pregnancy is, therefore, a cause of increased drop-out rates that lead to increased levels of illiteracy. Illiteracy is a concern for a nation because it hampers the overall national development due to inadequate manpower in civil service. It is, therefore, important that the government lowers the rate of drop-out cases for teen mothers.
This analysis is just a representation of the teen problems in the long run. There exist other major problems at not just an individual, but also at a society level that young mothers are subjected to due to their state. It is, therefore, important that teen pregnancy problem be addressed for the overall short-term and long-term benefits.
SDS Model
According to the Systems Developmental Stress Model (SDS), teen pregnancy as a stressor is considered an open system with self-regulatory ability to maintain a steady state. It is, however, important to note that based on Systems Theory of the SDS, teen pregnancy is a unified whole just rather than the sum of the individual parts it is to be assessed on. Being a developmental level teen pregnancy is analyzed on the aspect of time, including the expectation of its impact after some time. Based on this model, therefore, teen pregnancy will be analyzed under various subsystems: biologic, intrapersonal, interpersonal and socio-cultural.
On the biological perspective, teen pregnancy is likely to cause psychological problems. When a young girl gets pregnant, the effects of the trauma, rather that affecting the girl alone are likely to impact the family too, and the society as a whole. In the Perth Amboy perspective, it was noted that the city is a poverty stricken zone (Yablonsky et al., 2011). When a family can barely support themselves, the already bad situation is made worse by a daughter requiring special demands. The family is thus forced to make tough decisions on the way to adjust to the new living requirements. This is psychologically traumatizing for the family members.
Teen pregnancy on the intrapersonal level is analyzed by looking at the impact of teen pregnancy on the community it is associated with. Perth Amboy has suffered negative publicity because of being on the limelight as one of the cities with the highest rates of teen pregnancy (Shahid, 2010). In Perth Amboy High School, for example, a girl as young as sixteen was reported to contract pregnancy. When a school boasts such a negative image, few parents are likely to take their daughters to study in that institution. The school will, therefore, suffer a bad image, and some parents might even opt to transfer their daughters to other better schools, where their children are less likely to get pregnant.
Moreover, teen pregnancy, based on the SDS model can be viewed from an interpersonal aspect. In this sub-system, the problem is analyzed based on its impact on other communities. Perth Amboy as a unit has been reported to be a city with the highest rate of teen pregnancy in New Jersey. Based on this observation, the whole image of New Jersey is spoilt. One article, for example, reported on the high rate of teen pregnancy in New Jersey, just because the problem was worse in one of the cities, Perth Amboy (Yablonsky et al., 2011). Some people could see this as a wrong image portrayal by one city in their state. It is therefore concluded that a problem affecting one community is likely to affect another.
The SDS model can be used to analyze teen pre...