Substance Use and Mental Health Screening Within an Emergency Department-Based HIV Screening Program: Outcomes From 1 Year of Implementation.

Introduction: The emergency department (ED) may be an optimal setting to screen for substance use disorders (SUDs) and co-occurring psychiatric disorders (CODs). We report on the frequency of problematic substance use and comorbid elevated mental health symptoms detected during a 1-year implementation period of an ED-based SUD/COD screening approach within an established ED HIV screening program.

Methods: Patients (N = 1,924) were approached by dedicated HIV screening staff in an urban, Midwestern ED.

Concordance of Ethyl Glucuronide, Blood Alcohol Content, and Self-Reported Alcohol Use in Russian Women with HIV and Hepatitis C Virus Co-Infection.

Problematic alcohol use is prevalent in Russia and is deleterious for individuals with HIV and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). Ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and blood alcohol content (BAC) provide objective biomarkers of drinking that can be compared to self-reported alcohol use. This paper describes patterns of alcohol use measured by biomarkers and self-report along with concordance across measures.

Pregnancy and STI/HIV prevention intervention preferences of South African adolescent girls: findings from a cultural consensus modelling qualitative study.

South African adolescent girls experience high rates of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections including HIV. To inform culturally-tailored dual protection interventions to prevent both unintended pregnancy and STIs/HIV, this study qualitatively examined girls' sexual health intervention preferences. Participants were aged 14-17 years old and Sesotho-speaking ( = 25).

Reductions in tobacco use in naltrexone, relative to buprenorphine-maintained individuals with opioid use disorder: Secondary analysis from the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network.

Background: Smoking prevalence in individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) is over 80%. Research suggests that opioid use significantly increases smoking, which could account for the strikingly low smoking-cessation rates observed in both methadone- and buprenorphine-maintained patients, even with the use of first-line smoking-cessation interventions. If opioids present a barrier to smoking-cessation, then better smoking outcomes should be observed in OUD patients treated with extended-release naltrexone (XR-NTX, an opioid antagonist) compared to those receiving buprenorphine (BUP-NX, a partial opioid agonist).

Is it "loud" enough?: A qualitative investigation of blunt use among African American young adults.

Heavy blunt use is common among young adult cannabis users, especially African Americans. This exploratory qualitative study aimed to examine how African American young adults understand, talk about and experience their blunt use. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with adults reporting daily or almost daily blunt use in the past month ( = 20; 75% male).

Sexual minority women and Cannabis use: The serial impact of PTSD symptom severity and coping motives.

Sexual minority women (SMW) report greater rates of cannabis use. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity is related to greater cannabis use among SMW, and it is theorized that this is due to SMW using cannabis in an attempt to manage negative affectivity associated with PTSD symptoms. However, this is the first known study to test this hypothesis.