PLA Notes CD-ROM 1988-2001 18 Teenage facilitators: barriers to improving adolescent sexual health

Document begins: PLA Notes CD-ROM 1988­2001 18 Teenage facilitators: barriers to improving adolescent sexual health Tilly Sellers and Martin Westerby Introduction psycho-social and skills factors, service provision and use and cultural factors (Peach Hull, a city in the north-east of England, has a et al 1994). It also states that without a multi- high rate of conception amongst young women agency, `whole community' approach, these aged between 13 and 16 years, relative to the factors cannot be addressed effectively. The rest of Britain. No-one is quite sure why this is idea of a `whole community' approach is the case, but there are many theories. Some explained by Ashton and Seymour (1988) who say that health education "is only able to make believe that young women deliberately get its full contribution to the reduction of teenage pregnant to get government housing. Others pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease say that young people lack the skills to access information and contraception, or that services when it is part of an integrated community- themselves are failing those under 16 years. based programme and supported by public Another group believe that this is a cultural policies which set out to influence the entire issue and ...