Feature Articles

FPAHK pilot scheme helps young men deal with unwed pregnancy

Ref Number: ESEAOR201202b

  • Date1 Feb 2012
  • Category FPA Message
  • Targets Men Youth Public
  • AuthorFPAHK
  • Topic Birth and Pregnancy

FPAHK’s latest pilot scheme provides counseling to young men who were facing the problem of unwed pregnancy with their girlfriends. With a donation from the Bank of China Hong Kong (BOCHK) under the "Caring Hong Kong – A Heart Warming Campaign", FPAHK ran the “Support Scheme for Males Facing Unwed pregnancy” at its three Youth Health Care Centres from October 2010 to September 2011. A total of 238 unmarried young men aged below 26 were served through 374 free counselling sessions.

At a press conference to publicize the scheme, FPAHK’s Senior Counsellor Ms Christina Cheung explained that existing services in the community predominantly focus on the women when addressing pre-marital pregnancy, but the needs of their male partners are often neglected. Every year, FPAHK provides comprehensive medical and counseling service to around 2,400 unwed pregnant women aged below 26, but only around 100 men seek e-counseling for emotional problems due to their girlfriend’s pregnancy. FPAHK adopted a male-friendly approach in designing this scheme to alleviate their shyness, embarrassment and anxiety.

Ms Cheung said that to a pregnant unwed young woman, her boyfriend should be the person most closely involved. However, due to various factors such as young age and lack of finances, many couples fail to handle the situation well and subsequently suffer from great emotional distress. In some cases, rash decisions led to unfortunate consequences such as illegal abortion, abandonment and even infanticide.

Sharing his frontline counselling experience, FPAHK’s Counsellor Mr Presley Ko said these young men often cannot find support because attention is always focused on the pregnant girlfriend’s needs. The boyfriends are regarded as the culprits rather than people who also need advice and assistance. Traditional gender stereotypes also hinder young men from revealing their emotions or to have any say in decision making about the pregnancy. In reality, these young men may experience emotional problems such as guilt, grief, helplessness, stress and anxiety, and suffer from depression and insomnia, like their pregnant girlfriend. Many fail to communicate well with or give appropriate support to their girlfriend, resulting in conflicts in their relationship. Some feel excluded from the scene when their attempts to help are rejected. They are usually unfamiliar with relevant laws, healthcare and social services and other resources, and are more prone to making wrong or regrettable decisions.

Mr Ko said this scheme offered face-to-face counselling to the participants and encouraged their girlfriend to join. The counsellor provided help in the following aspects: emotional relief and support; relevant information for making a voluntary and responsible decision regarding the pregnancy; guiding the couple through shared decision making based on honesty and mutual respect; enhancing their awareness and knowledge of responsible sexual behaviour to prevent recurrent pregnancies.

From the scheme’s feedback questionnaires, more than 97% of the participants indicated that this service was effective or highly effective in: (1) relieving their emotions; (2) providing the right platform to help them make a shared decision regarding their pre-marital pregnancy; (3) helping them deal with the situation with a positive attitude; (4) enhancing their awareness of responsible sexual behavior. Among the 238 cases handled under the scheme, 85% chose to have abortion, 7% continued the pregnancy, and the remaining had a miscarriage or were lost to contact. Regardless of the participants’ final decision, this service served its purpose of helping the young couples through the trauma of pre-marital pregnancy. Minimizing any negative psycho-emotional impact would enable them to face the future with a positive attitude and learn to build a healthy relationship with their partners.