Anticipatory Counseling of Unwed Pregnant Adolescents

Abstract

The teaching process appropriate for unwed pregnant adolescents is based on a crisis intervention model. The nurse uses a group approach in helping these girls cope successfully with the physiologic, psychologic, and sociologic aspects of adolescence, pregnancy, and the anticipation of unwed motherhood. The major tasks inherent in role shifts in the familial milieu are also assessed and analyzed in a group situation. The nurse acts as a facilitator in providing information on which reality-based decisions can be made. Attention is necessarily focused on the way such information is integrated, and the need for each girl and the group as a whole to deal with the affective components that accompany learning. The nurse is a key helping person in providing the continuity, flexibility, and support necessary for these girls to emerge from their crises with an increased potential for self-realization and maturity.