Technology-based interventions that support adolescent pregnancy prevention: a systematic review.

Abstract

Introduction: Persistent inequities in unintended pregnancy among adolescents across the globe combined with their increased use of technology warrants an increased understanding of technology-based pregnancy prevention interventions designed specifically for this population. The objective of this systematic review was to identify "standalone" (i.e., able to be implemented without facilitation by people) technology-based interventions designed to support pregnancy prevention among adolescents and young adults.

Evidence acquisition: We included peer-reviewed articles available on the PubMed database that were published between 2010-2025 if they evaluated a standalone technology-based adolescent pregnancy prevention intervention. Articles went through a title and abstract review and subsequently a full-text review. Intervention characteristics and reported impacts were extracted and summarized from included articles.

Evidence synthesis: From 247 articles identified, 16 articles representing 13 interventions were included. Among the interventions, three were text message-based, four were web-based, and six were smartphone applications. Most of the interventions were developed in the USA for female adolescents and young adults. Five interventions used randomized control trials and demonstrated improvements in behaviors that can reduce the risk of unintended pregnancies.

Conclusions: Several technology-based interventions have been shown to improve adolescent pregnancy prevention behaviors; however, more attention to intervention implementation efforts, mechanisms of action that lead to behavior change, and the impact youth engagement has on the development and implementation has on outcomes is needed. In addition, greater investments and attention to pregnancy prevention efforts that target youth from different cultural backgrounds, countries and contexts are also needed to reach those who have less access to information and care. Future research and practice should also address how engaging males, gender-expansive and sexual minorities in pregnancy prevention efforts can contribute to improved outcomes. There is also a need to standardize behavioral measures to facilitate meta-analysis.