Baby simulators meant to deter teenage pregnancies actually increase the chances

FEEDING, burping, changing and comforting a screaming robot baby should deter teen girls from getting pregnant — no, just the opposite.

ROBOT baby dolls meant to cut teen pregnancy rates by simulating the ‘real experience’ of having an infant are actually doing the opposite.

A groundbreaking Australian study has found teenage girls given a comprehensive sex education campaign that involved taking the dolls home for a weekend were more likely to get pregnant.

Seventeen per cent of the girls who used the dolls got pregnant compared to just 11 per cent of those who had no experience with the dolls, the study published in The Lancet shows.

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Girls who in the program were also less likely to have an abortion when they got pregnant, only 54 per cent had an abortion compared to 60 per cent of the girls who did not use the robot baby.

The electronic baby mimics everything a baby would do — crying to be fed, burped, rocked or changed and cooing when its needs have been met. Picture: Supplied

The virtual infants made by company Realityworks are used in around 2,000 schools in Australia, 67 per cent of schools in the US and in 40,000 institutions in 89 other countries in a bid to deter teenage girls from getting pregnant.

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The electronic “Baby Think It Over” dolls have also been popularised in many TV shows including a recent episode of The Bachelor Australia.

Megan, Kiki, Nikki, Sasha and Noni endured 24-hours of fake motherhood using the baby simulators to prove to Richie they were cut out for parenting.

Bachelorette Kiki unimpressed with her baby simulator.

Bachelorette Megan handled her ‘baby’ roughly.

The dolls and their equipment cost around $1,800 each and school packs of 10 dolls retail for around $18,000.

Telethon Kids Institute researcher Dr Sally Brinkman said her study shows the infant simulators do not reduce the risk of pregnancy in teenage girls.

“In fact, the risk of pregnancy is actually increased compared to girls who didn’t take part in the intervention,” said Dr Brinkman.

Similar programs are increasingly being offered in schools around the world but the research shows they “are likely to be an ineffective use of public resources for pregnancy prevention,” she said.

As part of the randomised controlled trial, girls were given four lessons delivered by a school nurse on not smoking, drinking or taking drugs in pregnancy, good nutrition, the financial costs of having a baby, sexual health, contraception, and respectful relationships.

The girls were also given a workbook and watched a video documentary of teenage mothers talking about their experiences before caring for the baby simulator over a weekend.

The simulator baby cries when it needs to be fed, burped, rocked or changed and the carer is scored out of 100 for the attention it gives the robot.

The doll reports on mishandling, crying time, the number of nappy changes and general care.

Dr Brinkman said some of the teenagers locked the baby on a garden shed, others used blue-tac to stifle the microphone and some parents called in to ask how it could be turned off.

However, most of the girls became very attached to the robot and some did not want to hand it back.

The researchers can’t explain why the program failed to deter teenage pregnancies.

Theories included the fact that the program was very positive and the students enjoyed taking part, Dr Brinkman said.

Other explanations could be that a weekend was not long enough to give a true picture of parenting.

A real baby simulator is not enough to stop teenage pregnancies. Picture: Supplied

Obstetrician Professor Julie Quinlivan from the University of Notre Dame Australia said “the cure for teenage pregnancy is more difficult than a magic doll”.

“We have to address both mothers and fathers. Programs need to start in infancy. Investment in vulnerable children is needed to entice these adolescents from the path of premature parenthood into brighter futures. We cannot afford the quick fix, especially when it doesn’t work,” she said.

Steve Pratt, the director of Virtual Parenting, the Australian distributor of the dolls, said between 1,500 and 2,000 schools in Australia are using the dolls.

He said while the dolls were initially made by a former NASA employee as part of a pregnancy prevention program they were now used to teach about human relationships, life management skills and childcare.

President and CEO of Realtyworks Timm Boettcher said when used as designed with the instructional material provided the program has been proven to be extremely effective in parenting education programs and to deter teenage pregnancy.

“If anyone chooses to take a portion of our RealCare Baby Program, either the software, curriculum, or infant simulator and combine it with something else they developed to determine the effectiveness of this new program that just happens to use a portion of our product, it is their choice,” he said.

“However is not the same as using the product we sell in the way we provide it,” he said.

“If I buy a car and then put other parts and instruction around it to make that car a truck to now haul things, and assess it as that truck, it may not do what we expected or as well as we would like. Judge the car as designed and when evaluated as part of something different, showcase how it was different and do not state that it is ineffective as originally designed,” he said.

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