Bad news for makers of robot babies : Scientists say educational babe simulators like “ Baby Think It Over ” do n’t reduce , and may really increase , rates of teen pregnancy . They published their findings inThe Lancet .
Bringing home an electronic sister ( or a sack of flour , or an empty eggshell with a cheek drawn on it ) has become something of a rite of passing in middle and eminent schools around the world . The latest child simulators cry when they need to be fed , comfort , burped , or given a diaper alteration , while tracking whether or not their “ parents ” are in reality doing these things .
In Australia , baby simulator are part of schools ’ Virtual Infant Parenting ( VIP ) program , which also includes lesson about the sacrifice expect by pregnancy ( no more kegful stand , girls ! ) and the fiscal cost of child care , as well as sessions on healthy relationships , sexual wellness , and contraceptive method . Teaching the high muckamuck seems like an obvious choice — what better way to scare teenagers straight ?
To try the program ’s efficacy , researchers recruited 57 schools in Western Australia . Half of the school were depute the automatic sister VIP platform ( 1267 bookman ) , while the other one-half continue with a standard health year curriculum ( 1567 students ) . Because the study aimed to understand teenaged pregnancy , the recruited students were all girls between the age of 13 and 15 when the sketch began . The researchers also looked at medical records from local hospital and miscarriage clinic .
The results were not encouraging . lady friend in the command mathematical group had a 4 pct peril of becoming pregnant by the time they reached age 20 , but those who had taken an infant simulator menage were doubly as potential ( 8 percent ) to become teen moms . miscarriage rates were also higher in the VIP grouping ( 9 per centum ) than in the restraint mathematical group ( 6 percent ) .
" Our study shows that the pregnancy prevention curriculum delivered in Western Australia , which involve an baby simulator , does not reduce the risk of infection of maternity in teen girls , ” lead author Sally Brinkmansaidin a pressure statement . “ In fact , the risk of maternity is actually increase compared to miss who did n’t take part in the interference . "
Brinkman remark that VIP - like programs are growing in popularity around the cosmos . babe simulator sessions are presently taught in 89 country , and that number is only growing . If these program are in fact work against their Creator design , that ’s a serious drive for concern . A suite of infant simulators can be tenner of thousands of dollar bill — and most schools do n’t have money to save .
The researcher do n’t yet know why the VIP programme seems to fail so miserably , but what ’s clear , says health expert Julie A Quinlivan of the University of Notre Dame Australia , is that we ask to do better . “ The cure for teenage maternity is more hard than a charming doll , ” she wrote in a commentary inThe Lancet . “We have to speak both mothers and fathers . Programs necessitate to start in infancy . Investment in vulnerable children is postulate to tempt these adolescents from the way of untimely parentage into brighter futures . We can not afford the quick mending , especially when it does n’t work . "
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