New opportunities for reducing the risk from teenage pregnancy - what is the evidence base for tackling risk behaviours in combination?

From a review of international literature, this paper aims to contribute to the reduction of teenage pregnancy by considering the potential for innovative intervention programmes that tackle risk behaviours in combination. The review covers four main questions (1) What is the focus of current intervention efforts aimed at reducing teenage pregnancy and how successful are they? (2) What is the empirical evidence in support of combined interventions? (3) What is the theoretical evidence in support of combined interventions? (4) What are the lessons to be drawn from the few interventions that have tackled risk behaviours in combination and, in particular, what is their impact upon teenage pregnancy? With the relative lack of well-evaluated interventions that have tackled risk behaviours in combination, the review concludes that the case for this alternative approach must be cautionary and subject to further research. However, the evidence presented in this paper does indicate the potential for combined interventions and one that is worthy of further investigation. The primary argument behind this has been evidence of risk behaviours sharing common antecedents, demonstrated empirically by a minority group reporting a greater propensity to engage in more than one type of risk behaviour and, theoretically, by the discussion surrounding a risk personality type. The case is strengthened further by the criticism labelled towards the more 'traditional' pregnancy-prevention interventions, and also has the advantage of potentially addressing several different health concerns simultaneously.