Development of a Video-Delivered Serial Drama Designed to Reduce Community Homophobia and HIV Stigma, Decrease Sexual Risk Behavior, and Increase HIV Testing Among Black Youth.

This article describes the development of a video serial drama intervention that was designed to address factors that influence HIV in the United States among Black youth. These include HIV testing, sexual behaviors not protected by condoms, negative attitudes towards sexual minorities, and HIV stigma. Behavior-change principles (social learning theory and education-entertainment) and input from members of the priority audience formed the basis of this 27-episode (3 minutes each) drama for dissemination on multiple platforms, including in public spaces or privately online.

Long-term mediation of a sexual risk-reduction intervention for South African adolescents.

Objective: Black adolescents in South Africa are disproportionately affected by HIV. A cluster-randomized controlled experiment examining the effects of a sexual risk-reduction intervention successfully reduced self-reported intercourse and unprotected intercourse. Based on long-term follow-up assessments, the present research examines theoretical constructs that could potentially mediate the intervention effects and how time and gender, respectively, moderated the mediation.

Prospective donors' perspectives on hematopoietic cell donation for cell and gene therapy research and development.

To explore prospective donors' attitudes and perceptions toward donating hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) for novel treatments research and development (R&D). A survey was launched by Anthony Nolan (AN) to assess prospective donors' willingness to donate HSCs for novel therapies R&D, and their degree of comfort with the AN collaborating with and receiving payment from external organizations. Most participants (87%) were willing to donate for novel treatment R&D and were comfortable with AN collaborating with external organizations and receiving payment (91% and 80%, respectively).

Strategies for increasing impact, engagement, and accessibility in HIV prevention programs: suggestions from women in urban high HIV burden counties in the Eastern United States (HPTN 064).

Background: Merely having the tools to end HIV is insufficient. Effectively ending the epidemic necessitates addressing barriers that impede engagement in biomedical and behavioral prevention and wide scale implementation and utilization of existing interventions. This qualitative study identifies suggestions for increasing access to, engagement in, and impact of HIV prevention among women living in cities in high HIV burden counties in the eastern US.

Role of Race/Ethnicity in Donor Decisions about Unrelated Hematopoietic Progenitor Cell Donation: Exploring Reasons for Higher Attrition among Racial/Ethnic Minorities.

There are more than 30 million potential unrelated hematopoietic progenitor cell (HPC) donors listed on international registries, but 30% to 50% are unavailable after matching a patient. In the United States racial/ethnic minorities opt out of donation at higher rates, and a previous study identified factors associated both with attrition and ethnic group membership. Attrition among minorities is also higher in the Anthony Nolan UK registry (35% in white British [WB] and 56% in nonwhite British [NWB]), but it is not clear what factors produce higher attrition in the United Kingdom and whether they are similar to those found in the United States.

Intervention Increases Physical Activity and Healthful Diet Among South African Adolescents Over 54 Months: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Purpose: Scant research has investigated whether health promotion interventions have sustained effects in increasing physical activity and healthful diet among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa, which is experiencing an epidemiological transition from infectious diseases to noncommunicable diseases as leading causes of mortality. We examined whether an intervention increased adherence to 5-a-day diet and physical activity guidelines during a 54-month postintervention period among South African adolescents and whether its effects weakened at long-term (42 and 54 months postintervention) compared with short-term (3, 6, and 12 months postintervention) follow-up.

Methods: We randomized 18 randomly selected schools serving grade 6 learners (mean age = 12.

Effect of a Community-Level HIV Prevention Intervention on Psychosocial Determinants of HIV Risk Behaviors among Young Black Men Who Have Sex with Men (YBMSM).

In contrast to intervention studies that assess psychosocial factors only as mediators or moderators of HIV risk, the present study assessed the effects of an Mpowerment-based community-level intervention on psychosocial determinants (e.g., depressive symptoms, sexual stigma) of HIV risk behavior among young black MSM.

Syndemic conditions predict lower levels of physical activity among African American men who have sex with men: A prospective survey study.

African American men are disproportionately affected by, not only HIV/AIDS, but also chronic non-communicable diseases. Despite the known benefits of physical activity for reducing chronic non-communicable diseases, scant research has identified factors that may influence physical activity in this population. A growing literature centers on the syndemic theory, the notion that multiple adverse conditions interact synergistically, contributing to excess morbidity.

Effect of a Behavioral Intervention on Perpetrating and Experiencing Forced Sex Among South African Adolescents: A Secondary Analysis of a Cluster Randomized Trial.

Importance: Scant research has investigated interventions to reduce forced sexual intercourse among adolescents. The need for such interventions is especially great in South Africa, which has some of the highest rates of sexual assault in the world.

Objectives: To determine whether an HIV/sexually transmitted disease risk-reduction intervention that reduced sexual risk behavior and sexually transmitted disease prevalence also reduced the perpetration and experience of forced sex among South African adolescents.

Motives for joining an unrelated HSC donor registry: description, categorization, and association with donor availability.

A challenge for registries of unrelated hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) donors is to recruit and retain sufficient donors for patients needing transplants. Many registered HSC donors opt-out when called as a potential match for a patient. Anecdotal evidence suggests that motives for joining a registry may be linked to the donation decision.

Women and HIV in the Twenty-First Century: How Can We Reach the UN 2030 Goal?

Women have always been part of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. As with other populations affected by HIV, for many years the only prevention strategy available was behavior change. Behavioral interventions for women were developed and evaluated, with some success.

Prospective Predictors of Multiple Sexual Partners Among African American Men Who Have Sex with Men.

Studies show that having sex with multiple partners increases the risk of acquiring and transmitting sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. The present article reports prospective predictors of having multiple sexual partners among 505 African American men in Philadelphia who have sex with men (MSM) who participated in an intervention trial and attended a 6-month follow-up. Participants completed audio computer-assisted surveys of demographics, sexual behavior, and Reasoned Action Approach and Social Cognitive Theory mediators concerning multiple partners.

Predictors and psychological pathways for binge drinking among South African men.

Objective: To develop targeted interventions for high-risk drinkers among South African men, we assessed whether sociodemographic factors and history of childhood sexual abuse predicted binge drinking at six-month follow-up assessment and their psychological pathways according to the extended Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA).

Design: Survey responses with a sample of 1181 South African men from randomly selected neighbourhoods in Eastern Cape Province were collected at baseline and six-month follow-up. Multiple logistic regression analysis examined the baseline predictors of binge drinking.

Structural Interventions in HIV Prevention: A Taxonomy and Descriptive Systematic Review.

One of the four national HIV prevention goals is to incorporate combinations of effective, evidence-based approaches to prevent HIV infection. In fields of public health, techniques that alter environment and affect choice options are effective. Structural approaches may be effective in preventing HIV infection.

Risky Trade: Individual and Neighborhood-Level Socio-Demographics Associated with Transactional Sex among Urban African American MSM.

There is a clear, persistent association between poverty and HIV risk and HIV infection. Low educational attainment, neighborhood disadvantage, and residential instability are ways in which poverty is instrumentally experienced in urban America. We investigated the role of lived poverty at both the individual and neighborhood levels in transactional sex behavior among African American men who have sex with men (MSM) residing in urban neighborhoods.

Retention of South African Adolescents in a 54-Month Longitudinal HIV Risk Reduction Trial.

Retention of participants in clinical trials is a central concern of HIV/STI behavioral researchers and research sponsors. This article describes the strategies used for addressing the challenges in retaining South African adolescents for a 54-month longitudinal study. The objective of the South African adolescent health promotion long-term follow-up trial was to test the sustainability of the effects of an HIV/STI risk reduction intervention, "Let Us Protect Our Future," on young adolescents as they aged into middle and late adolescence.

Childhood Sexual Abuse and Sociodemographic Factors Prospectively Associated with Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration Among South African Heterosexual Men.

Background: Intimate partner violence directed at women by men continues to be a global concern. However, little is known about the factors associated with perpetrating intimate partner violence among heterosexual men.

Purpose: History of childhood sexual abuse and other sociodemographic variables were examined as potential factors associated with severe intimate partner violence perpetration toward women in a sample of heterosexual men in South Africa.

Efficacy and Mediation of a Theory-Based Physical Activity Intervention for African American Men Who Have Sex with Men: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Few trials have tested physical-activity interventions among sexual minorities, including African American men who have sex with men (MSM).

Purpose: We examined the efficacy and mediation of the Being Responsible for Ourselves (BRO) physical-activity intervention among African American MSM.

Method: African American MSM were randomized to the physical-activity intervention consisting of three 90-min one-on-one sessions or an attention-matched control intervention and completed pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, and 6- and 12-month post-intervention audio computer-based surveys.

Socioecological factors influencing women's HIV risk in the United States: qualitative findings from the women's HIV SeroIncidence study (HPTN 064).

Background: We sought to understand the multilevel syndemic factors that are concurrently contributing to the HIV epidemic among women living in the US. We specifically examined community, network, dyadic, and individual factors to explain HIV vulnerability within a socioecological framework.

Methods: We gathered qualitative data (120 interviews and 31 focus groups) from a subset of women ages 18-44 years (N = 2,099) enrolled in the HPTN 064 HIV seroincidence estimation study across 10 US communities.