Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Teen Pregnancy - Part 2 - A Peer Response

LAST YEAR, ALMOST 500 BABIES WERE BORN TO TEENAGE MOTHERS IN SPRINGFIELD. OBSTETRICIAN SARAH PEREZ MCADOO MET MANY OF THESE YOUNG WOMEN ON HER EXAMINING TABLE -- TOO LATE, OF COURSE, TO PREVENT THEIR PREGNANCIES. BUT BECAUSE SHE'S SO APPALLED BY THE RISING NUMBER OF TEEN MOTHERS, MCADOO IS TAKING IT UPON HERSELF TO INTERVENE. ON HER OWN TIME, SHE VISITS HIGH SCHOOLS ACROSS SPRINGFIELD AND HOLYOKE, AND THE FIRST THING SHE TELLS STUDENTS IS HER JOB TITLE -- DIRECTOR OF OB-GYN AT BAYSTATE MEDICAL CENTER.

*part of it is just being a role model in the community. i'm a latina. i speak spanish fluently, and i was raised by a single mother, and i've been able to go to school and bc a professional.

WHEN MCADOO FINDS A YOUNG PERSON WHO IS MOTIVATED TO STAY IN SCHOOL AND TO AVOID EARLY PARENTHOOD -- SHE MOVES ONTO THE NEXT STEP. SHE RECRUITS THEM FOR WHAT SHE CALLS THE YOUTH EMPOWERMENT ADOLESCENT HEALTH NETWORK ? OR ?YEAH.? TWICE A MONTH, ANYWHERE FROM TWO TO 16 TEENAGERS -- BOYS AND GIRLS -- GATHER IN A CONFERENCE ROOM AT BAYSTATE HOSPITAL, WITH COOKIES AND PIZZA ON HAND. THEY LEARN ABOUT BIRTH CONTROL, ANATOMY, AND BASIC HEALTH, BUT THEY ALSO STRATEGIZE ON WAYS TO SLOW THE RATES OF TEEN PREGNANCY. ONE WAY...IS TO TURN TEENAGERS THEMSELVES INTO AMBASSADORS OF PREGNANCY PREVENTION. TWO 17-YEAR-OLDS WHO WORK WITH MCADOO, TATIANA AND JOLERY, HAVE TAKEN ON THIS ROLE AT THEIR HIGH SCHOOL. THE FIRST THING THEY HAD TO DO, WAS LEARN ABOUT CONTRACEPTION THEMSELVES. JOLERY SAYS SHE FELT WOEFULLY UNINFORMED.

JOLERY: i just knew like the birth control pill, and the condom, and that's it.0:20:59.0 ?.
TATIANA: i knew about the shot, and the tubes tied (laughs.)
JOLERY: i learned about the patch, i learned about how can you stop doing -- 'abstinence.'
TATINA: 0:22:05.2?.i learned, even one time, you could get pregnant.

AND ONE THING THEY EACH KNOW FOR SURE?.IS THAT THEY DON?T WANT A BABY, NOT RIGHT NOW. YOLERY SAYS EDUCATION COMES FIRST.

*Y: i wanna go to college, bc if i do, i'll be the first one in my whole family.0:36:57.5
that's like the major reason i don't want to have a baby. and besides, they will kill me if i do.0:37:23.6

T: there's plenty of time to have kids. you should enjoy your life first. party, have fun. I'll have a baby when i'm like, 50....

THESE ARE THE MESSAGES THEY?RE TRYING TO GET OUT TO PEERS AT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY HIGH SCHOOL. BUT TATIANA SAYS IT HASN?T BEEN EASY.

*T: like in school, we try to spread it out by like making little pamphlets. and like we made a board and put it in the cafeteria. ?.we decorated it, it said, let's talk about sex, and it had all diff kinds of information,?. but then after a while, pp ripped it down.

THEY?VE ALSO TRIED TO GET THE WORD OUT BY HOSTING INFORMATIONAL MEETINGS, THROUGH A SCHOOL-SPONSORED PUBLIC HEALTH CLUB. AT ONE CLUB EVENT, A FEW HUNDRED KIDS SHOWED UP FOR PIZZA, BUT MOST LEFT BEFORE THEY STARTED TALKING ABOUT PREGNANCY PREVENTION. SO TATIANA SAYS THEY?RE TRYING TO INFLUENCE SOCIAL ATTITUDES WITH A MORE SUBTLE APPROACH.

**T: we have like other friends that hang out with us, so we'll talk about it to them, and we'll have little conversations, and they're like, oh, i never knew that, and right there they're learning new information about what we're talking abuot.0:29:22.8...cuz i know, they know, if they have a baby they have to drop out of school, but they should know way more than that. that it could cause stress in your life, they're like -- oh, she's having a baby, i should have one too. cuz i've seen that happen.

THIS TYPE OF WORD-OF-MOUTH ACTIVISM ... IS WHAT DOCTOR SARAH PEREZ MACADOO CALLS 'SOCIAL MARKETING.'

ax: 0:30:58.2 a lot of it is peer to peer, face to face, that's how you're going to get change. it's not going to be that simple - like, we send out an email and everyone is gonna change their behavior tomorrow.

PLUS, THE GIRLS ARE SAVVY ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT NO MATTER WHAT THEY DO IN SCHOOL, THE MESSAGES THEIR FRIENDS GET AT HOME MAY BE STRONGER.

**T: cuz there's like parents who don't talk to their kids about things in life. so the teens will be like, yeah, my parents don't care what i do.
*y; if i want to get information, i gotta go to one of my friends or my teachers or something, bc if I go to my mom or anyone in my family, they will freak.
t: like i had that talk with my mom. i asked her one day, like, what would you do if i got pregnant? and like she was like, nothing. and i yelled at her -- like what are you talking about? why would you say somethig like that? ?., but then she came out a couple minutes and said, well, i said no bc i knew you're not gonna be that stupid to do something like that. and i was like, well, good answer, good answer!
CONVERSATIONS WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS ARE JUST PART OF THE OVERALL EFFORT. THE TEEN HEALTH NETWORK OCCASIONALLY MOVES INTO THE POLITICAL ARENA. AT ONE RECENT MEETING, MCADOO WAS HELPING TATIANA AND JOLERY WRITE A LETTER TO THE GOVERNOR ON THE PROBLEM OF TEEN PREGNANCY.
**[FADE UP] 0:11:55.1 why would he be interested in this issue do you think? 0:12:00.1 'the issue of birth rates?' 'does he have daughters?' 'i don't know if he has daughters. that's an excellent question! (fade under)
IF THE TEEN NETWORK TAKES OFF, MCADOO IS HOPING EVERY HIGH SCHOOL IN SPRINGFIELD AND HOLYOKE WILL START A CHAPTER. SHE'S ALSO RAISING MONEY TO STUDY TEEN PREGNANCY IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS -- SHE SAYS ONLY BY UNDERSTANDING THE POPULATION, INCLUDING FAMILY ATTITUDES AND ECONOMIC PRESSURES, CAN YOU REALLY CHANGE BEHAVIOR. FOR WFCR AND WNNZ, I?M KAREN BROWN.