In 1992 alone, there were 516,255 births to teenage mothers. Unaware of the importance of well-child care and immunizations, adolescent mothers often do not bring their children for regular check ups. Their children are at great risk for poor medical and developmental outcomes. The mothers too frequently have non-adaptive parenting skills, repeat pregnancies, and do not finish school. There is a need to provide education specifically created for these young women. To address this need, we propose to develop and evaluate, Mother's Helper, a new, interactive educational tool designed especially for adolescents. This multimedia CD-ROM will provide teen mothers with information on basic infant care skills and emphasize their adaptation to parenting responsibilities. Potential benefits of the program are: 1) improved compliance with health care visits and immunizations, 2) prevention of repeat teen pregnancies, and 3) increased flexibility in teen parenting attitudes. Phase I evaluates utility and technical feasibility by producing part f the curriculum designed for the first well-baby visit. We will assess the software with respect to user satisfaction and effectiveness in delivering information. Phase II will expand the software to cover the first year of a child's life and includes an efficacy study of the final product. Currently, we are in Phase I and are evaluating the Mother's Helper software.
