Abstract

MACHADO, Nicole O; SAITO, Maria I.  and  SZARFARC, Sophia C. Socio-demographic and reproductive characteristics of adolescent mothers who attended an inpatient clinic linked to the Adolescent Unit of a public hospital. Rev. bras. crescimento desenvolv. hum. [online]. 2007, vol.17, n.3, pp. 1-7. ISSN 0104-1282.

Taking into account the inherent problems concerning adolescent pregnancy and the importance of implementing health actions targeted at that population, this paper aims to identify social characteristics of adolescent mothers who were followed up, during the prenatal period, by the Discipline of Obstetrics of the School of Medicine of the University of São Paulo, linked to the Adolescent Unit of Hospital das Clínicas. The sample population was composed of the 81 mothers who attended that Unit during the study period. Information concerning personal characteristics was collected by a survey. It was verified that 76.5% of the young mothers had not intended to become pregnant, but with the support provided by the family and the institution, they were planning to have more babies in the future. The majority of them lived with their partner, who, in some cases, became the head of the adolescent's family. Of the 81 mothers, 39.5% did not complete elementary school; 54.3% quitted studying and 49% did not work. Their leisure activities changed and approximately half of the adolescents stopped participating in any leisure activity, during and after pregnancy. The study emphasizes the importance of prenatal and postnatal care in order to benefit those young women and their children.

Keywords : adolescent mothers; lifestyle; postnatal care.

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