An attempt to repeat the success of an American programme that cut teenage pregnancies has failed in the UK, leading to an increase rather than a drop in the number of girls getting pregnant, according to an evaluation published today.
The UK project, which cost £5.9m and involved 2,500 youngsters aged 13 to 15 across England, also failed to delay drinking and cannabis use.
The pilot project was commissioned by the Department of Health in 27 locations around England following the success of the Carrera programme in New York City, which began in 2004. Carrera, run by the US Children's Aid Society, significantly reduced the rate of teenage pregnancies over three years in the four areas where it was introduced.
The UK scheme – the Young People's Development Programme (YPDP) – did not replicate Carrera exactly, but was informed by it. The idea was to boost the self-esteem and aspirations of young people believed to be at risk of teenage pregnancy, substance misuse and school exclusion. They were given education on sex and drugs, but also offered mentoring.
Meg Wiggins, of the Institute of Education at London University, who led the evaluation published today in the British Medical Journal, said: "It looked promising, I think. We certainly were excited to be asked to evaluate it and we thought it was a very sensible thing to run the pilot. I can imagine the temptation was just to roll it out. Teenage pregnancy has been such a problem in this country."
But the evaluation of the three-year pilot told a different story. "Unexpectedly, our analysis suggested that participation in the YPDP was associated with higher rates of some outcomes than occurred at comparison sites," the paper says. "Among young women, YPDP participants more commonly reported teenage pregnancies, early heterosexual sex and expectation of becoming a teenage parent …"
Some of the findings may be due to the problems the evaluators had in making accurate comparisons between the young people, the authors say, and the number of young people drifting out of the programme was a big problem.
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英国试图照搬美国成功降低青少年怀孕率的计划，但根据今天发表的一份评估，这一努力并没有奏效，英国少女怀孕的人数不降反升。
英国的这一项目花费了590万英镑，涉及全国范围内2500名13-15岁的青少年。它也没有达到预期的延迟饮酒和吸毒的目的。
纽约市于2004年开始执行的卡雷拉计划（Carrera programme）成功之后，英国27个地区的卫生部委托执行了这项试验计划。卡雷拉计划由美国儿童援助协会运作，三年来，实施该计划的四个地区的少女怀孕率都有显著下降。
英国的方案——青少年发展计划（YPDP）——不是完全复制卡雷拉计划，但借鉴了它。它的主张是提高有可能在青春期怀孕、滥用毒品和被学校开除的青少年的自尊和抱负。他们不仅将接受有关性和毒品的教育，而且会得到专门辅导。
今天刊登在《英国医学杂志》上的这份评估的第一作者是伦敦大学教育研究所的Meg Wiggins。她说：“我认为这看起来很有希望。当有人请我们对此进行评估时，我们的确很兴奋。我们觉得先进行试验是十分明智的。我能够想象，大家很期待大干一场。毕竟青少年怀孕在这个国家已经是很严重的问题。”
但对为期三年的试验计划的评估却不那么令人乐观。“我们的分析得到了出乎意料的结果：参与YPDP的青少年出现一些不良行为的比例反而比其他地区的青少年更高。”这篇文章写道，“在年轻女性中，YPDP的参与者更多地报告青春期怀孕、早期性行为以及成为少女母亲的可能性……”
作者指出，出现这样的结果，可能是由于评估者在青少年之间进行精确比较时出了问题，而且退出该计划的青少年数量也是个大问题。
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