Young adult reproductive health survey, Jamaica 1987: final report

Survey attempts to explore the attitudes of young adults towards to sex education and sexual activity, the history of their sexual experience and the use of contraceptives and to arrest fertility trends among Jamaican youths. Project aimed to: to obtain the necessary data on sexual behaviour and contraceptive use of young adults and to provide information for the development of new programme strategy of existing national family planning programmes and strategies, provide information to develop new educational material in the national programme and to make available data for regional comparisons (AU)

The Women's Centre in Jamaica: an innovative project for adolescent mothers

In 1978 the Jamaican Women's Bureau established the Women's Centre, the 1st project in the developing world to help pregnant teenagers avoid the usual hardships of poverty and dependence. The women take courses in academic subjects and prenatal and postnatal health, and receive good medical care. Fathers and parents are involved in counselling sessions where practical life skills, including family planning, are emphasized. The young mothers improve dramatically in self confidence, self esteem, and in their ability to take care of their babies. The Centre's success has helped to loosen the policies of the Jamaican government on the education of pregnant school age women (AU)

Patterns of contraceptive use in Kingston and St. Andrew, Jamaica, 1970-1977

The records of a sample of family planning acceptors were examined in the period 1970-1977 to identify those factors which influenced the choice of contraceptive and the drop-out rate. The sample included all daily clinics in Kingston and St. Andrew, Jamaica from which the original records were randomly selected at the ratio of 1/100, and 10 percent of the more numerous sessional clinics, from which the ratio was 1/10. Those clients who gave no addresses or who lived outside Kingston and St. Andrew were omitted from the study leaving a total of 854. In the follow-up sample a client was considered a drop-out when she was overdue for an appointment by more than 3 months. The Majority of women were within the 20-29 year age group. The teenage group, representing 20 percent of the acceptors, has been causing considerable concern and several intervention programs have been directed towards this sector. 60 percent of the acceptors had between 0 and 2 children. 89 percent of the women sought family planning services after they began childbearing. Depo-Provera was prescribed for just over 11 percent of new acceptors in 1971, but by 1977, 34 percent of the newcomers were receiving Depo-Provera. The increase in the prescription of Depo-Provera was effected largely at the expense of foams, creams and IUDs. In later years the choice lay between the 2 harmonal contraceptives, oral contraception (OC) and Depo-Provera. Apart from the condom, all other methods were unimportant. Many clients appear unable or unwilling to tolerate the effects of Depo-Provera. The most frequently reported problems were irregular bleeding and amenorrhea. By life table determination, the continuation rate was just under 2 percent. The pattern for those clients who had accepted Depo-Provera and OC as 1st methods varied only slightly. A considerable percentage of women who drop out of the program may do so because of the relatively great distances between their residences and the clinic. Highest continuation rates were achieved by those clinics where the majority of clients lived within walking distance. The average family size of the women at risk was 3.2 and the modal class was 4 children. The average for those women who had become pregnant since dropping out was 3.7. Organization such as the Women's Centre and Operation Friendship, replicated throughtout the island, have greater prospects for lowering the rate of fertility than effective drugs with low continuation rates (AU)

The professional socialization of the student nurse: a sociological study of two schools of nursing in Jamaica

Part 1 of the report examines professions in general and the present status and future prospects of nursing among the professions. Then it traces historically the interplay of social and cultural features of Jamaican society as they have shaped the organizational contours of Jamaica's nursing service. This section receives fairly detailed treatment because of its value as a broad socio-cultural background for the rest of the study, and its historical significance to the understanding of nursing in Jamaica today. Furthermore, the relative scarcity of any collective historical report on nursing in Jamaica, makes this exercise useful in terms of its value as a source of reference material. Part 2 includes analysis of the student's perception of occupational roles and self-image. It reviews a number of role relationships in which the student is involved, and the implications of such relationships for her professional socialization. The report sometimes suggests or implies certain policy guidelines relevant to the field of nursing, though it has not been possible to address all of the important problems and issues that confront contemporary nursing. (AU)