An exploration of pregnant teenagers' views of the future and their decisions to continue or terminate their pregnancy: implications for nursing care

Aims and objectives To explore teenagers' views of the future in relation to their choices to continue or terminate pregnancy. Background Despite recent decreases in the numbers of teenage pregnancies, across the world, the teenage pregnancy rate remains high. Consideration of views of the future (future orientation) appears to play an important part in teenage girls' decisions to continue with pregnancy. To date, no study has explored this in teenage pregnant girls at the time they make their decision to continue with or terminate their pregnancy. Design Cross‐sectional mixed methods design. Methods Three groups were included: termination of pregnancy (n = 19), antenatal (n = 9) and never pregnant (n = 23). Participants were 13–18 years old. The termination of pregnancy and antenatal groups were interviewed, and the never pregnant group completed postal questionnaires. Results Groups differed in individual aspects of future orientation, that is, education, career and family, and reasons for pregnancy resolution choice. The termination group had more clearly developed and longer‐term plans for the future with a focus on career. The never pregnant group shared aspects of their future orientation with both the antenatal and termination of pregnancy groups. The impact of negative discourses about teenage pregnancy from others was identified as a significant issue. Conclusions How pregnant teenage girls view the future has a relationship with their decision to terminate or continue with their pregnancy. Relevance to clinical practice The findings suggest that working with teenage girls to clarify their views of the future may be useful both in preventing future unwanted pregnancy and in supporting teenagers in making pregnancy decisions. Supporting pregnant teenagers in distancing themselves from negative stereotypes of teenage mothers may also be beneficial.