News

Crisis Pregnancy Agency launches new "Think Contraception" Campaign

The Crisis Pregnancy Agency launched a new sexual health promotion campaign to encourage consistent use of contraception among sexually active young adults on 20th October 2008. Large-scale research commissioned by the Agency, has shown that among 18 – 25 year olds, 26% did not report consistent use of contraception in the last year (ICCP, 2004). The new Think Contraception campaign aims to encourage young men and women, the vast majority of whom have had sexual intercourse by the time they reach 25, to plan for, and consistently use contraception.

The campaign promotes the message that "Nobody else is going to do the thinking for you" with regards to contraceptive use. The campaign aims to counteract the inconsistency of contraceptive use which is a key contributor to crisis pregnancy. The campaign will focus on promoting the thinkcontraception.ie website as a key educational tool which will provide information on all aspects of sexual health in an interactive and user-friendly manner. Thinkcontraception.ie is a comprehensive resource which contains interactive information on contraception, sexual health, fertility and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) as well as a sexual health quiz.

At the launch of the new campaign, Katharine Bulbulia, Chair of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency said: "The new Think Contraception campaign addresses many of the findings of Irish research in this area and highlights the importance of correctly and consistently using contraception to prevent unplanned pregnancies and protect against sexually transmitted infections (STIs)."

For more information click here

 
Pictured at the launch of the Think Contraception campaign are Katharine Bulbulia, Chair of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency and Enda Saul, Programmes and Communications Manager.

To order Think Contraception leaflets, contact the Agency at info@crisispregnancy.ie or 01-8146292.

Visit thinkcontraception.ie for information on contraception, sexual health, fertility and sexually transmitted infections as well as a sexual health quiz.

Crisis Pregnancy Agency and Department of Education and Science agree on initiatives to support the delivery of Relationships and Sexual Education (RSE) for Post-Primary students

The Crisis Pregnancy Agency together with the Department of Education and Science (DoES) have agreed on a series of initiatives that will lead to the development of supports for schools and teachers in engaging with outside facilitators in the delivery of Relationships and Sexual Education (RSE) for Post-Primary students.

As a first step in this direction the Agency is commissioning the project titled "A review of the international literature addressing external support for school-based sex education provided by personnel or agencies other than regular teaching staff, geared towards Post-Primary students and appropriate to the Irish setting".

The Agency has invited tenders from all interested parties.

Full details can be downloaded here. Please note the final date for receipt of tenders is November 17th, 2008.

Crisis Pregnancy Agency calls interested parties to tender for study on Women's Experiences of Pregnancy at Work

The Agency seeks to commission a research project exploring women's experiences of pregnancy at work. The overarching aims are: to assess the impact of the workplace on pregnant women with a view to estimating levels of pregnancy-related discrimination; to understand the causes of discrimination of this nature; to assess levels of awareness among women of their employment rights as they relate to pregnancy and to explore the factors that impact on women when deciding whether to return to work after having a child.

The Agency invites third level institutions, research organisations and individuals to tender for this piece of research.

Full details can be downloaded here or contact Maeve O'Brien, Policy Officer at 01 8146292 or mobrien@crisispregnancy.ie. Please note the final date for receipt of tenders is Friday November 28th, 2008 at 12 noon.

Guidelines for Health Professionals working in Maternity settings on the Care of Women with Concealed Pregnancy to be published in November 2008

"Concealed Pregnancy: A case-study approach from an Irish setting", commissioned by the Agency and written by Catherine Conlon, UCD, estimated that 1 in every 625 births in a Dublin maternity hospital was concealed and that 1 in every 403 births in a rural maternity hospital was concealed.

On foot of these findings, the Agency with the help of the HSE, has undertaken the development of a set of guidelines for health professionals, to guide and inform services in relevant healthcare settings to respond effectively to women concealing pregnancies. Guidelines for Health Professionals working in Maternity settings on the Care of Women with Concealed Pregnancy will be published in November 2008 and disseminated to relevant health and social care professionals. The guidelines aim to support Maternity, Social Work, Antenatal/Parentcraft Education, Obstetrics, Paediatrics and Administration departments of hospitals in effectively responding to a woman presenting with a concealed pregnancy.

To view a copy of "Concealed Pregnancy: A case-study approach from an Irish Setting", click here.

Development of Guidelines to assist Crisis Pregnancy Counsellors working with Clients with Intellectual Disabilities

The Agency and the National Disability Authority (NDA) have formed a partnership to co-commission the development of evidence-based practice guidelines for crisis pregnancy counsellors and general practitioners (GPs) on working with and supporting women with an intellectual disability experiencing a crisis pregnancy.

A shortlist of researchers has been approved by the partners and a Closed Tender Request for a literature review and international comparison of best practice was distributed to interested parties for submission by 20th October. The Partners are currently scoring tenders and will award the tender at the end of October. The deadline for completion of the project will be February 2009.

Treoir - "Crisis Pregnancy and Adoption" resources

The Crisis Pregnancy Agency has provided funding to Treoir, the National Federation of Services for Unmarried Parents and their children, to develop a series of three "Crisis Pregnancy and Adoption" resources. The series of resources will include:

- A guide to the adoption process for those experiencing a crisis pregnancy

- Pregnant and thinking about adoption, exploring thoughts and feelings regarding adoption

- What is adoption? A leaflet translated into 9 languages to introduce non-Irish people to the concept of adoption

Treoir in partnership with the following organisations; the Adoption Service HSE, Drogheda, Ballinasloe Crisis Pregnancy Service, the Coombe Hospital, Galway University Hospital, Mayo Crisis Pregnancy Support Service; the National Maternity Hospital and Pact, will develop these resources.

The purpose of the development of these resources is to address an information gap in the area of Crisis Pregnancy and Adoption. The resources are aimed at women experiencing a crisis pregnancy, their partners and extended families, crisis pregnancy counsellors and other professionals who come into contact with those experiencing a crisis pregnancy. The resources will be available in June 2009.

For more information please call Treoir on 01 - 6700 120 or visit www.treoir.ie.
For a list of Crisis Pregnancy Counselling agencies women can freetext the word "list" to 50444 or visit positiveoptions.ie for more information.

Rationalisation of State Agencies

The Minister for Finance announced on 14th October that the Crisis Pregnancy Agency is to come under the Government's Programme of Rationalisation of State Agencies. It has been agreed at Government level that the Agency is to be merged into the Health Service Executive.

The Agency has been informed that this will involve a transfer of undertakings and will require primary legislation to be enacted to facilitate this transfer. It is envisaged that this will be completed sometime towards the latter part of 2009.

The Agency will be meeting with the Department of Health and Children in the near future to discuss how this transfer will take place and the exact timeframes concerned.

Once the Agency has further information in relation to the longer term impact of this decision on both the Agency itself and on its stakeholders, it will communicate this to all the relevant parties concerned. In the meantime the Agency is continuing its work in implementing its Strategy "Leading an Integrated Approach to Reducing Crisis Pregnancy 2007-2011".