Adolescent pregnancy from a family perspective: Sharing projects of life and care

Abstract

This qualitative study aimed to apprehend the meaning of adolescents' pregnancy for their families, using semistructured interviews and collective subject discourse. Adolescent pregnancy is represented as a problem to be faced with family support. The families worry and are mobilized to solve adversities. Besides the shock about the news, impotence as to pregnancy prevention, conformism, happiness and improvement in family relationships due to the baby's arrival, participants evidenced frustration due to the interruption/change in the family life project in terms of the adolescent being pregnant without a stable relationship with the child's father. In valuing the family perspective on adolescent pregnancy, professional care to pregnant adolescents and their families can be delivered in partnership with the family and social context, making it easier to cope with conflicts and recognizing the family as an active subject in this process.