Addressing Unintended Teen Pregnancy Through Reproductive Health Service Delivery by School Nurses and Physicians

Bibliographic Data

ID17337756
AuthorsRebecca Fisher (0000-0001-5148-6731, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Office of School Health, Adolescent Health Unit Long Island City New York USA), Pamela S Haller (New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Office of School Health, Adolescent Health Unit Long Island City New York USA), Phoebe Danza (New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Office of School Health, Adolescent Health Unit Long Island City New York USA), Kate L Collier (0009-0007-4966-5715, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Office of School Health, Adolescent Health Unit Long Island City New York USA, corresponding author), Lorraine Tiezzi (New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Office of School Health, Adolescent Health Unit Long Island City New York USA)
Year2026
Volume96
Issue4
Pagese70080-e70080
Publication date2026-02-26
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of School Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-4391 • E-ISSN: 1746-1561
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/josh.70080
PMID41748129
OpenAlexW7131813290
LanguageEN
References cited17

BACKGROUND: The Connecting Adolescents to Comprehensive Healthcare (CATCH) program built upon existing infrastructure for school nurses and physicians to provide limited reproductive health services to New York City public high school students. We evaluated CATCH reach, service delivery, and impacts on contraceptive use and pregnancy among female teens over the period 2011-2019. METHODS: Our evaluation incorporated data from school rosters and CATCH patient records; the NYC Youth Risk Behavior Survey, to estimate contraceptive use among students without CATCH access for comparison with students with access; and NYC vital statistics, to estimate the pregnancies, abortions, and births averted by CATCH. RESULTS: CATCH grew from piloting on five campuses to operating on 61 campuses with more than 80,000 students, reaching an estimated 53.7% of sexually active female students on those campuses by the 2018-19 school year. Use of most or moderately effective contraception (IUD, implant, pills, patch, ring, or Depo-Provera) among CATCH patients increased over time and was consistently higher than estimates for those same students if they had not had CATCH access. We estimate the program averted 3526 pregnancies among NYC teens. CONCLUSIONS: By supporting access to reproductive health care, CATCH contributed to contraceptive uptake and reduced pregnancies among NYC teens

Population · Pregnancy · Public health · Reproductive health · Service (business) · Teen pregnancy · Unintended pregnancy · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · Reproductive Health and Contraception · Reproductive Medicine · School Health and Nursing Education

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