Referral to and engagement in substance use disorder treatment within opioid intervention courts in New York: a qualitative study of implementation barriers and facilitators.

Background: People with opioid use disorder (OUD) are frequently in contact with the court system and have markedly higher rates of fatal opioid overdose. Opioid intervention courts (OIC) were developed to address increasing rates of opioid overdose among court defendants by engaging court staff in identification of treatment need and referral for opioid-related services and building collaborations between the court and OUD treatment systems. The study goal was to understand implementation barriers and facilitators in referring and engaging OIC clients in OUD treatment.

Technology Access and Perceptions of Telehealth Services Among Young Adults Involved in the Court System.

Purpose: This study examined access to technology and telehealth among young adults (ages 18-24) who were court-involved and were recruited from an alternative sentencing program in New York City.

Methods: Using sequential mixed methods design, we examined demographic factors linked with access to technology and perceived usefulness of the Internet among n = 321 young adults who were court-involved (75% male, 65% African American, 35% Latinx). We then conducted in-depth interviews with 27 young adults to elicit first-person account of their access to, interest in, and experience with technology and telehealth.

Clinical and Demographic Characteristics of HIV Post-Exposure Prophylaxis Users in New York City.

Incidence of HIV infection remains high in New York City and, while considerable attention has been paid to the scale-up of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) plays an important role in the HIV prevention continuum. We conducted a retrospective analysis of clinical and demographic characteristics of individuals receiving HIV post-exposure prophylaxis at a large academic medical center in northern Manhattan. Post-exposure prophylaxis users were predominantly Latinx (52.

Approach to Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Sexually Transmitted Infection Testing for Men at an Urban Urgent Care Center.

Background And Objectives: Sexually transmitted infection (STI) rates have increased among men. Urgent care centers are increasingly common sites for medical care. The objectives of this study are to describe practices surrounding STI testing at an urban urgent care center.

Academic Health Center-Community Justice Program Partnerships: Linking Men in the Justice System to Health Care.

Background: Linkage to community health and social services after incarceration is often inadequate. This is troubling, because risk taking and poor health are common immediately after release, and access to health providers and insurance helps individuals to transition home.

Objectives: This article describes how faculty and clinicians at a large academic health center in New York City, established partnerships with justice programs to jointly develop services that aimed to increase health care access for men in the justice system.

Effectiveness of a Multifaceted Community-Based Promotion Strategy on Use of GetHealthyHarlem.org, a Local Community Health Education Website.

The use of health communication extends beyond simply promoting or disseminating a particular product or proposed behavior change; it involves the systematic and strategic integration and execution of evidence-based, theory-driven, and community engagement strategies. Much like in public health intervention design based on health behavior theory, health communication seeks to encourage the target audience to make a positive behavior change through core concepts such as understanding and specifying the target audience, tailoring messages based on audience segmentation, and continually conducting evaluation of specific and overarching goals. While our first article "Development of a Culturally Relevant Consumer Health Information Website for Harlem, New York" focused on the design, development, and initial implementation of GetHealthyHarlem.

Development of a culturally relevant consumer health information website for Harlem, New York.

The process of creating a geographically tailored health information website with ongoing feedback from community members is one of inquiry and discovery, frustration and triumph, and development and reevaluation. This article reviews the development and implementation of GetHealthyHarlem.org, a health literacy level-appropriate consumer health information website tailored to consumers in Harlem, New York City.

HIV testing sites' communication about adolescent confidentiality: potential barriers and facilitators to testing.

Purpose: This study sought to evaluate HIV testing locations in New York City in terms of staff communication of confidentiality policies for adolescent clients.

Method: Using the New York State Directory of HIV Counseling and Testing Resources as a sampling frame, this study made telephone contact with 164 public HIV testing locations in New York City and used a semistructured interview to ask questions about confidentiality, parental permission, and parent access to test results.

Results: At 48% of locations, either HIV testing was not offered or we were unable to reach a staff member to ask questions about testing options and confidentiality.

Computer use, internet access, and online health searching among Harlem adults.

Purpose: Computer use, Internet access, and online searching for health information were assessed toward enhancing Internet use for health promotion.

Design: Cross-sectional random digit dial landline phone survey.

Setting: Eight zip codes that comprised Central Harlem/Hamilton Heights and East Harlem in New York City.

There's always Plan B: adolescent knowledge, attitudes and intention to use emergency contraception.

Background: It can prove challenging to create social marketing materials aimed at a specific subsection of the population, especially when the topic is relatively new and possibly misunderstood. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess adolescent knowledge of and attitudes towards emergency contraception (EC), with the goal of creating a locally relevant social marketing campaign and intervention.

Methods: This qualitative study consisted of 18 in-depth interviews and four focus groups (n=29) with adolescents and young adults ages 15 to 21 years, conducted in New York City between August and December 2006.

Feasibility of using computer-assisted interviewing to enhance HIV test counseling in community settings.

Objectives: Significant advances in the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) place a premium on early detection and linkage to care. Recognizing the need to efficiently yet comprehensively provide HIV counseling, we assessed the feasibility of using audio computer-assisted self-inventory (A-CASI) in a community-based HIV counseling and testing facility.

Methods: A convenience sample of 50 adults presenting for HIV testing was recruited to complete an 85-item computerized HIV Assessment of Risk Inventory (HARI) containing domains of demographics, sexual behaviors, alcohol and substance use, emotional well-being, past experiences with HIV testing, and attitudes about taking HARI.

Lack of oral health care for adults in harlem: a hidden crisis.

Objectives: Profound and growing disparities exist in oral health among certain US populations. We sought here to determine the prevalence of oral health complaints among Harlem adults by measures of social class, as well as their access to oral health care.

Methods: A population-based survey of adults in Central Harlem was conducted from 1992 to 1994.

An online audio computer-assisted self-interview for pre-screening prior to rapid HIV testing in a vulnerable population.

ACASI (Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interview) has been demonstrated to be more effective than face to face interviews in eliciting truthful responses on sensitive subjects such as substance abuse and sexual behavior (1, 2). Thus, ACASI has the potential to streamline and standardize HIV counseling and testing by providing a comprehensive overview of each patients behavior while highlighting areas that may merit further exploration.

Overheard in the halls: what adolescents are saying, and what teachers are hearing, about health issues.

Background: Schools have long been recognized as an excellent place to offer health education and supportive services. Teachers are among the most important influences in the lives of school-aged children and can provide valuable insight into the health issues important to adolescents. The purpose of this study was to examine the potential role general academic teachers may play in facilitating adolescent health promotion efforts.

Parents of urban adolescents in Harlem, New York, and the Internet: a cross-sectional survey on preferred resources for health information.

Background: Vulnerable populations suffer disproportionately from a variety of health conditions. Access to health information is an important component of health promotion. Reports suggest that while health providers and print media are traditional sources of information, the Internet may be becoming an increasingly important resource for consumers.

More than heights and weights: what parents of urban adolescents want from health care providers.

To examine health care providers' expected role in health promotion counseling to urban adolescents from the perspective of parents. Although participating parents wanted health care providers to counsel their adolescents on sensitive health issues, their desires and expectations were rarely met.

Lack of oral health care for adults in Harlem: a hidden crisis.

Objectives: Profound and growing disparities exist in oral health among certain US populations. We sought here to determine the prevalence of oral health complaints among Harlem adults by measures of social class, as well as their access to oral health care.

Methods: A population-based survey of adults in Central Harlem was conducted from 1992 to 1994.

The adolescent years: an academic-community partnership in Harlem comes of age.

Much has been written about the potential benefits in health promotion that are possible through partnerships between academic institutions and community-based organizations, but little practical advice has been provided on how to sustain these relationships when the original grant funds have been exhausted. Here we document our experiences in Harlem, New York City, a community with grave social, structural, and physical environmental inequities, and describe the successes and failings of a partnership now in its "adolescence" between researchers at the Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University and community activists at West Harlem Environmental Action (WE ACT).

Involving men in reproductive health: the Young Men's Clinic.

Objectives: This report describes the population of young men who use the Young Men's Clinic in New York City, presents a profile of their reproductive behaviors, and describes the clinic's model of service delivery.

Methods: Data were gathered through a routine clinic visit form administered by clinic staff.

Results: The clinic sees approximately 1200 predominately Dominican young men each year for a wide range of clinical and mental health services.

Inner-city adolescents' awareness of emergency contraception.

Objectives: To assess the awareness of emergency contraception (EC) among inner-city adolescents attending a general primary health care clinic.

Method: 197 patients filled out an anonymous 28-item survey on sexual activity, experience with contraceptives, attitude toward pregnancy, experience with pregnancy, awareness of and intent to use EC.

Results: 71% of the sample was sexually experienced; 90% had been active within six months of the clinic visit.

"Number One with a Bullet": Epidemiology and Prevention of Homicide among Adolescents and Young Adults.

Homicide has become the leading cause of untimely death among black adolescent males in the U.S. and the second leading cause of death for young people overall.

Prevalence and correlates of AIDS-related behavioral intentions among urban minority high school students.

Using data from a cross-sectional survey of 926 predominantly black and Hispanic ninth through twelfth graders in three New York City public high schools, the explanatory power of theoretically and empirically derived predictors (i.e., demographic, contextual, and cognitive) of intentions to engage in sexual intercourse, to be sexually monogamous, to use condoms during intercourse, and to ascertain intercourse partners' sexual and drug-use histories was compared.