Intimate partner violence and its relation to sexual health outcomes across different adult populations: a systematic review.

Introduction: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) significantly impacts adults' wellbeing, causing both physical and psychological harm. IPV has been consistently linked to adverse sexual health outcomes, including an increased risk of sexually transmitted infections, unintended pregnancies, and sexual dysfunction. This systematic review examines the evolving relationship between IPV and sexual health outcomes in adults from 2014 to 2024, addressing gaps in understanding across diverse populations and exploring the complex interplay between violence, sexuality, and health.

Home Together: A Multi-Level Community-Based Health Promotion Program Supporting Families Experiencing Homelessness.

Home Together (HT) is a multi-level multi-component health promotion program, co-led by academic and non-profit partners in Arkansas that sought (1) to improve access to and family acceptance of social services and health care among women experiencing homelessness who have a diagnosed mental health condition and a child younger than six years and (2) to increase service provider capacity to engage with this population. A socioecological perspective was used to detail program components and lessons learned. Home Together enrolled 345 women representing unduplicated families.

Comprehensive and Integrated Services in Specialty Mental Health Treatment Facilities in the US: Differences by the Racial/Ethnic Composition of the Facility's Clientele, 2020.

The integration of multiple ancillary services into mental health treatment settings may improve outcomes, but there are no national studies addressing whether comprehensive services are distributed equitably. We investigated whether the availability of a wide range of service types differs based on the facility's racial/ethnic composition. We used the 2020 National Mental Health Services Survey to identify twelve services offered in outpatient mental health treatment facilities (N = 1,074 facilities).

County-level jail incarceration, community economic distress, rurality, and preterm birth among women in the US South.

Introduction: The USA has higher rates of preterm birth and incarceration than any other developed nation, with rates of both being highest in Southern states and among Black Americans, potentially due to rurality and socioeconomic factors. To test our hypothesis that prior-year county-level rates of jail admission, economic distress, and rurality were positively associated with premature birth rates in the county of delivery in 2019 and that the strength of these associations is greater for Black women than for White or Hispanic women, we merged five datasets to perform multivariable analysis of data from 766 counties across 12 Southern/rural states.

Methods: We used multivariable linear regression to model the percentage of babies born premature, stratified by Black (Model 1), Hispanic (Model 2), and White (Model 3) mothers.

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and racial discrimination among US adults.

Vaccination is a critical preventive measure to reduce COVID-19 health risks. We utilize full information maximum likelihood (FIML) logistic regression to analyze COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in a national sample of United States (US) adults (N = 2,022). Online survey data was collected between September 7th and October 3rd, 2021.

Demographic and geographic shifts in the preferred route of methamphetamine administration among treatment cases in the US, 2010-2019.

Background: Methamphetamine use disorder has increased rapidly in the past decade. Injecting is also increasing and has multifaceted implications for disease severity, overall health, and treatment outcomes, but less is known about where or among whom injecting has shifted the most. This national study assessed temporal changes in the preferred route of methamphetamine administration by race/ethnicity and within urban/rural geographies.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and Experiences of Discrimination Among Black Adults.

Early in the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, Black adults consistently reported more hesitancy than White adults, but few studies have examined variation in hesitancy among Black adults or its associations with racial discrimination. Data were collected from Black Arkansas residents age 18 and older (n = 350) between July 12 and July 30, 2021, as part of a larger survey of Arkansans (N = 1500). Participants were recruited through random digit dialing of both landline and cell phones, with oversampling of Black and Hispanic residents.

Homeless Opioid Treatment Clients Transitioning to Dependent and Independent Housing: Differential Outcomes by Race/Ethnicity.

Homeless opioid treatment clients who transition into housing generally demonstrate better outcomes, but housing environments vary widely and may not benefit racial/ethnic minority populations equally. We sought to identify how race/ethnicity moderates the association between positive opioid treatment response and moving into dependent or independent living environments. We used the Treatment Episode Dataset-Discharges (2018-2019) to identify outpatient treatment clients who were homeless at admission and indicated heroin or other opioids as their primary drug of choice ( 20,021).

Tailoring services in opioid treatment programs for patients involved in America's criminal justice system: national associations and variation by state and Medicaid expansion status.

Background: Opioid treatment programs (OTPs) are the primary source of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for many individuals with opioid use disorder, including poor and uninsured patients and those involved in the criminal justice (CJ) system. Substance use treatment services that are tailored to the unique needs of patients often produce better outcomes, but little national research has addressed characteristics associated with whether OTPs offer services specifically tailored to community members involved in the CJ system. Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act has broadly strengthened MAT services, but the role of expansion in supporting MAT services that are specifically tailored towards CJ-involved populations remains unknown.

Natural history of human papillomavirus and vaccinations in men: A literature review.

Background And Aims: Infection with high-risk (HR) genotypes of the human papillomavirus (HPV) is necessary for and causative of almost all cervical cancers and their precursor condition, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. These conditions have been sharply reduced by cervical cytology screening, and a further decrease is expected because of the recent introduction of prophylactic HPV vaccinations. While significant attention has been given to gynecologic HPV disease, men can be affected by HPV-related cancers of the anus, penis, and oropharynx.

Reducing Risky Sex among Rural African American Cocaine Users: A Controlled Trial.

Rural African American cocaine users experience high rates of STIs/HIV. This NIDA-funded trial tested an adapted evidence-based risk reduction program versus an active control condition. Participants were 251 African American cocaine users in rural Arkansas recruited from 2009-2011.

Economic Context and HIV Vulnerability in Adolescents and Young Adults Living in Urban Slums in Kenya: A Qualitative Analysis Based on Scarcity Theory.

Urban slum adolescents and young adults have disproportionately high rates of HIV compared to rural and non-slum urban youth. Yet, few studies have examined youth's perceptions of the economic drivers of HIV. Informed by traditional and behavioral economics, we applied a scarcity theoretical framework to qualitatively examine how poverty influences sexual risk behaviors among adolescents and young adults.

Presentation and Management of Venomous Snakebites: Should All Patients Be Transferred to a Tertiary Referral Hospital?

Venomous snakebites may be difficult to manage because of the varied clinical presentations that may lead to uncertainty regarding the most appropriate medical and surgical management. Frequently, snakebite victims are referred from smaller rural hospitals to larger tertiary centers offering more specialized services and care. A retrospective chart review was performed using medical records from both adult and pediatric hospitals in a rural state over a 7-year period (January 2004 to January 2011) to investigate the utility of intensive care and specialized medical services offered at tertiary referral centers.

Violence Against Women in Selected Areas of the United States.

Objectives: We determined the prevalence of recent emotional, physical, and sexual violence against women and their associations with HIV-related risk factors in women living in the United States.

Methods: We performed an assessment of women ages 18 to 44 years with a history of unprotected sex and 1 or more personal or partner HIV risk factors in the past 6 months from 2009 to 2010. We used multivariable logistic regression to examine the association of experiencing violence.

Religiosity and sexual risk behaviors among African American cocaine users in the rural South.

Purpose: Racial and geographic disparities in human immunodeficency virus (HIV) are dramatic and drug use is a significant contributor to HIV risk. Within the rural South, African Americans who use drugs are at extremely high risk. Due to the importance of religion within African American and rural Southern communities, it can be a key element of culturally-targeted health promotion with these populations.

Dimensions of religion, depression symptomatology, and substance use among rural African American cocaine users.

Research has shown a relationship between depression, substance use, and religiosity but, few have investigated this relationship in a community sample of African Americans who use drugs. This study examined the relationship between dimensions of religion (positive and negative religious coping; private and public religious participation; religious preference; and God-, clergy-, and congregation-based religious support), depression symptomatology, and substance use among 223 African American cocaine users. After controlling for gender, employment, and age, greater congregation-based support and greater clergy-based support were associated with fewer reported depressive symptoms.

Sexual sensation seeking, transactional sex, and rural African American cocaine users.

The purpose of this study was to explore correlates of sexual sensation seeking (SSS) in a sample of rural African American cocaine users. Respondent-driven sampling was used to recruit 251 participants from two impoverished rural counties in eastern Arkansas. Consistent with previous investigations, SSS scores were associated with being younger, being male, having more sexual partners, and having more unprotected sexual encounters in the previous 30 days.

The "translators": engaging former drug users as key research staff to design and implement a risk reduction program for rural cocaine users.

This manuscript describes lessons learned in the development and implementation of a clinical behavioral trial to reduce sexual risk among African-American cocaine users in rural Arkansas, from the perspectives of a multidisciplinary investigative team and community staff members with a history as local drug users who served as "translators." Recommendations for investigators doing community-based research with active substance users are provided in the following domains: (a) engaging the community during formative research, (b) establishing bidirectional trust, (c) ensuring community voices are heard, and (d) managing conflict. The "translator's" role is critical to the success of such projects.

"We as drug addicts need that program": Insight from rural African American cocaine users on designing a sexual risk reduction intervention for their community.

This focused ethnographic study examines data collected in 2007 from four gender- and age-specific focus groups (FGs) (N = 31) to inform the development of a sexual risk reduction intervention for African American cocaine users in rural Arkansas. A semi-structured protocol was used to guide audio-recorded FGs. Data were entered into Ethnograph and analyzed using constant comparison and content analysis.

Parental recognition of overweight in school-age children.

Objective: Examine the accuracy of parental weight perceptions of overweight children before and after the implementation of childhood obesity legislation that included BMI screening and feedback.

Methods And Procedures: Statewide telephone surveys of parents of overweight (BMI > or = 85th percentile) Arkansas public school children before (n = 1,551; 15% African American) and after (n = 2,508; 15% African American) policy implementation were examined for correspondence between parental perception of child's weight and objective classification.

Results: Most (60%) parents of overweight children underestimated weight at baseline.