The effectiveness of family planning clinics in serving adolescents

Data from surveys conducted by The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) in 1981 have been used to create three indicators of the effectiveness of family planning clinics in serving teenagers: the mean delay between first intercourse and first clinic visit (which for teenage clinic patients is 13.2 months); teenage patient retention (67 percent; and the average excess of patient satisfaction over dissatisfaction with clinic policies and services (33 percent). Clinics run by Planned Parenthood are more effective than other types of facility, according to the mean delay indicator, whereas other clinics, such as those associated with community action programs and neighborhood health centers, rank highest in levels of patient satisfaction and patient retention. All three measures indicate that clinics serving 1,000-2,499 family planning patients per year are more effective in serving teenagers than either smaller or larger clinics, and that nonmetropolitan clinics are more effective in providing services than those in cities. Regression analysis shows that clinic administrators might take a number of actions to shorten the mean delay among teenagers between first intercourse and first clinic visit. These include offering community education programs for teenagers, enlisting the support of local churches, developing relationships with local youth groups, opening the clinic during evenings and weekends, accepting more teenagers as walk-in patients and locating a clinic in or near neighborhoods where many teenagers live. Two of the same factors--developing an active relationship with youth groups and opening the clinic to teenagers on evenings and weekends--were also found to be particularly effective in keeping teenagers as clinic patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)