Assignment 3: Task Force Project-Identifying the Determinants of Health

Scenario: You have been hired as head of the Maternal, Infant, and Reproductive Health Task Force in Centervale. The mission of the task force is to reduce the growing rate of adolescent pregnancy in Centervale using a multicomponent, ecological approach.

The task force includes representatives from the medical community, community-based organizations that serve low income and minority populations, schools, parents, and teen advocacy groups. Each group has an interest in the issue, although there are several opinions about how the problem should be addressed. Previous meetings (prior to your participation) lacked focus and direction and consisted primarily of members voicing opinions.

You were hired for this position based on your ability to apply theoretically sound, evidence-based principles to the development and evaluation of programs and policies. Over the next several weeks, you will develop brief planning and background documents to use as the basis for the development and evaluation of a comprehensive program. You will then prepare a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation of your program for the Board of Directors. The first step is to learn more about adolescent pregnancy prevention, and the behavioral, cultural, and environmental risk factors associated with this health issue.

Using the Argosy University online library resources, review scholarly literature on adolescent pregnancy prevention, including the behavioral, cultural, and environmental risk factors associated with this health issue.

1. Provide a brief overview of adolescent pregnancy issues.

2. Explain the key behavioral, cultural, and environmental risk factors.

3. Be sure to provide illustrative examples in support.

4. Do not focus on how the problem can be "fixed," but only on the risk or causative factors.

5. Focus on the following:

• Which factors do you think are the most important and why?

• Which factors do you think are the most and least changeable?

• Which factors are the most important for reducing or preventing adolescent pregnancy?

Support your positions with at least three scholarly, peer-reviewed articles. Include a reference page. Your paper should be written in a clear, concise, and organized manner; demonstrate ethical scholarship in accurate representation and attribution of sources; and display accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Write a 3-4-page report in Word format. Apply APA standards to citation of sources.