Abstract
Unplanned pregnancy poses a multiplicity of problems for students and academic institutions.Using an ecosystemic framework one can uncover the range of costs incurred when a student’sacademic life is disrupted as a result of an unplanned pregnancy. The academic programme isderailed with serious financial costs incurred by the institution, the family and the individual.Through-put targets of the institution may be affected, leaving a trail of deficits that are difficult tomanage, together with a bruised public image that impacts negatively on student intake. At apsycho-social level the individual and family lose standing in the community because of the shameof an unplanned pregnancy and an illegitimate child, or trauma upon learning of a positive HIVdiagnosis accompanying pregnancy. These concerns provided the motivation for this study, whichwas to identify factors that contributed to unplanned pregnancy to reduce its impact and informproactive planning. No such study had been conducted on the University of KwaZulu-Natal’sWestville campus previously. The research was conducted on the Westville Campus of theUniversity of KwaZulu-Natal under the auspices of the Department of Student Counselling fromAugust 2003 to December 2003 to investigate why an increasing number of students werepresenting with unplanned pregnancies. This increase is reflected in the statistics below
Highlights
Unplanned pregnancy poses a multiplicity of problems for students and academic institutions
These statistics are reflected until July 2003 only, as the figures from August 2003 to December 2003 were included in this study
The theoretical underpinning for the study was an ecosystems paradigm that allowed for understanding the multiplicity of factors that affected unplanned pregnancy
Summary
Unplanned pregnancy poses a multiplicity of problems for students and academic institutions. At a psycho-social level the individual and family lose standing in the community because of the shame of an unplanned pregnancy and an illegitimate child, or trauma upon learning of a positive HIV diagnosis accompanying pregnancy These concerns provided the motivation for this study, which was to identify factors that contributed to unplanned pregnancy to reduce its impact and inform proactive planning. The research was conducted on the Westville Campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal under the auspices of the Department of Student Counselling from August 2003 to December 2003 to investigate why an increasing number of students were presenting with unplanned pregnancies This increase is reflected in the statistics below. These statistics are reflected until July 2003 only, as the figures from August 2003 to December 2003 were included in this study. The problem is believed to be more widespread than this study reveals
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
