Brenda Talley, RN PhD CNAA¹, Marian M Tabi, PhD, RN¹, Kathleen Rushing, RN, MSN¹, Pat Brannen, RN, MSN², and Veronica Hurley, RN². (1) School of Nursing, Georgia Southern University, P. O. Box 8158, Statesboro, GA 30460, 912-681-5794, btalley@georgiasouthern.edu, (2) SE Health Unit, Georgia Department of Human Resources, Div of Public Health, 1101 Church Street, Waycross, GA 31501

Early motherhood: having two or more children while still a teen

Early motherhood, defined as becoming a mother before the age of 18, has serious health and socioeconomic consequences. Even more of an impact on lives is becoming a mother of more than one child while still a teen. The purpose of this study is to attempt to understand and express the experience of early motherhood of those who had more than one child as a teen from the study participant’s point of view. It should be noted that public health nurses who work with teen parents daily introduced this as a research topic in need of exploration.

Cowling’s Unitary Appreciative Inquiry Method (qualitative) will be used to explore the life pattern of women between the ages of 18 and 25 who have given birth to more than one child (excluding multiple births) while still in their teens. The subjects participating and the study researchers will co-participate in dialogue exploring the life pattern of early motherhood and create an artistic expression (or expressions) of the experience. The time line of the study has a completion date of May 1, 2004.

Subjects are recruited from local health departments from various clinic settings. Dialogue is ongoing for six weeks during which time expressions of the life experiences will be recorded. Story telling and other expressions, which will emerge from the dialogue, will attempt to capture the essence of the experiences. These expressions will be co-created, refined, and validated by all participants.

Learning Objectives: At the end of this session, participants will be able to

• Define issues important to teens experiencing premature motherhood.
• Describe the life experiences of teens who have had more than one child.
• Create a vision of the life experience of teen mothers from their own perspectives.
• Identify points of intervention that could reduce very early motherhood and/or minimize threats to well-being in very young teen mothers.

Keywords: Research, Teen Pregnancy

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.