Community Voices: A Qualitative Study Exploring Perceptions of Menthol Cigarette Sales Restrictions in Los Angeles County Among Black Adults Who Smoke Menthol Cigarettes.

Introduction: The commercial tobacco industry has long targeted Black communities by making menthol cigarettes not only appealing but affordable through marketing, advertising, and pricing strategies, particularly in the retail environment. Policies that focus on restricting the sale of menthol cigarettes have the potential to significantly reduce the death toll from smoking while also mitigating health inequities and advancing racial equity. However, limited qualitative research exists on the perceptions of menthol cigarette sales restrictions, including local policies, among Black adults who smoke menthol cigarettes.

How Intimate Partner Violence Is Influenced by Social Identity Among Sexual Minority Men.

Sexual minority men (SMM) experience intimate partner violence (IPV) at disproportionately high rates. The objective of this article was to identify the experiences of SMM and health care providers on how social identity impacts IPV. SMM participants ( = 23) were recruited from online community settings and a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and others (LGBTQ+) organization in Los Angeles; providers ( = 10) were recruited from LGBTQ+ organizations.

Mental health and social connection among older lesbian and bisexual women.

Objective: To assess differences in psychosocial and mental health outcomes between older lesbian and bisexual women compared to heterosexual women.

Design: Cross sectional study.

Setting: The study was carried out in the California Teachers Study, a prospective cohort study.

Binge drinking disparities by gender identity, race, and ethnicity in California secondary schools.

Our objective was to estimate disparities in binge drinking among secondary school students in California at the intersection of gender identity, race, and ethnicity, without aggregating racial and ethnic categories. We combined two years of the Statewide middle and high school California Healthy Kids Survey (n=951,995) and regressed past month binge drinking on gender identity (i.e.

Intimate Partner Violence and the Sexual Health of Sexual Minority Men.

This qualitative study explores the pathways by which various forms of intimate partner violence (IPV) impact the sexual health behaviors of cisgender identified sexual minority men (SMM). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 racially and ethnically diverse SMM who recently experienced IPV and 10 clinical and social service providers focused on how experiences of IPV directly or indirectly influences sexual risk as well as engagement in HIV prevention behaviors (e.g.

Leveraging Key Informant Interviews to Inform Intervention Development: The Greater Lawndale Healthy Work Project.

Background: The Greater Lawndale Healthy Work project is a sequential mixed methods community based participatory research project that examines work as a structural determinant of health and builds community capacity for healthy work in a predominantly Black and Latinx community in Chicago known as Greater Lawndale (GL).

Objectives: We interviewed community leaders in GL as key informants to understand the barriers to healthy work and inform intervention development.

Methods: We conducted a directed content analysis of transcripts from 20 key informants and coded the social ecology and type of intervention.

Developing evidence for building sanitation justice: A multi methods approach to understanding public restroom quantity, quality, accessibility, and user experiences.

Access to basic sanitation is a human right and a critical environmental determinant of health. In this paper, we detail the development of three tools to investigate sanitation justice: (1) our public restroom spatial database, (2) our field assessment tool, and (3) survey of restroom access experiences. We document our process to collect these data in a consistent, health equity-driven framework.

Housing status as a social determinant of disparities in adolescent smoking, vaping, and dual use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes.

Little is known about how various housing situations among adolescents may be associated with differential patterns of smoking and vaping-information with practical relevance for tobacco prevention and control efforts. We analyzed disparities by housing status in past 30-day smoking, vaping, and dual use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes/vape products among adolescents participating in the population-based California Healthy Kids Survey (N = 931,355; 2017-2019). Generalized linear mixed models for a categorical outcome quantified differences in prevalence and adjusted odds ratios (AORs) of smoking only, vaping only, and dual use among adolescents in various housing situations relative to their peers living in a home with one or more parents/guardians or other relatives.

Intimate Partner Violence and HIV Prevention Among Sexual Minority Men: Protocol for a Prospective Mixed Methods Cohort Study.

Background: Sexual minority men experience intimate partner violence (IPV) at rates similar to those reported by heterosexual women in the United States. Previous studies linked both IPV victimization and perpetration to HIV risk and seroconversion; however, less is known about the impact of IPV on HIV testing, sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake, and the persistence of PrEP use among sexual minority men experiencing IPV. Although prior work suggests that IPV may influence HIV prevention behavior, experiences of IPV are so highly varied among sexual minority men (eg, forms, frequency, and severity; steady vs casual partnerships; perpetration vs receipt; and sexual vs physical vs psychological violence) that additional research is needed to better understand the impact that IPV has on HIV risk and protective behaviors to develop more effective interventions for sexual minority men.

Practical Strategies for Health Equity Researchers to Enhance Analytic Rigor and Generate Meaningful Insights From Qualitative Data.

Researchers and public health practitioners increasingly need to leverage diverse methodologic approaches in health equity research that will lead to innovations in the assessment of health inequities and development of interventions to decrease health inequities. One well-suited approach is the use of robust qualitative methods (alone or in combination with quantitative methods). As more health equity researchers employ qualitative methods in their study designs, additional guidance is needed on how to conduct robust and rigorous qualitative data analyses.

Barriers and Opportunities to Improve the Implementation of Patient Screening and Linkage to Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis in Primary Care.

Although pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is highly effective at preventing HIV infection, only around 25% of at-risk individuals in the United States have accessed a prescription. One way to increase PrEP uptake is through the sexual health screening of patients and linkage to PrEP in primary care settings. The objective of this analysis was to assess the barriers and implementation strategies during a screening and linkage to PrEP pilot intervention.

Community Resident Perceptions of and Experiences with Precarious Work at the Neighborhood Level: The Greater Lawndale Healthy Work Project.

Work is a key social determinant of health. Community health and well-being may be impacted in neighborhoods with high proportions of people engaged in precarious work situations compounded by health inequities produced by other social determinants associated with their residential geography. However, little is known about how community residents experience work at the neighborhood level nor how work impacts health at the community-level, particularly in communities with a high proportion of residents engaged in precarious work.

Vaping Disparities at the Intersection of Gender Identity and Race/Ethnicity in a Population-Based Sample of Adolescents.

Background: Transgender adolescents use vape products (eg, e-cigarettes) at higher rates than cisgender adolescents. Little is known about how these disparities differ from the intersectional perspective of both gender identity and race/ethnicity.

Methods: We examined disparities in past 30-day vaping frequency at the intersection of gender identity and race/ethnicity among adolescents participating in two pooled waves of the population-based California Healthy Kids Survey (N = 953 445; 2017-2019).

Conceptualizing an Interdisciplinary Collective Impact Approach to Examine and Intervene in the Chronic Cycle of Homelessness.

Homelessness is a persistent problem in the United States in general and in Southern California especially. While progress has been made in reducing the number of people experiencing homelessness in the United States from 2007 (647,000) to 2019 (567,000), it remains an entrenched problem. The purpose of this paper is to outline a novel, interdisciplinary academic-practice partnership model to address homelessness.

Sexual orientation and gender identity disparities in co-occurring depressive symptoms and probable substance use disorders in a national cohort of young adults.

This study examined sexual orientation and gender identity differences in co-occurring depressive symptoms and substance use disorders (SUDs) among young adults in the Growing Up Today Study national cohort (n = 12,347; ages 20-35; 93% non-Hispanic white). Self-administered questionnaires assessed recent co-occurring depressive symptoms and probable nicotine dependence, alcohol use disorder, and drug use disorder. Multinomial logistic regressions with generalized estimating equations quantified differences in prevalences of depressive symptoms only, SUDs only, and co-occurrence, among sexual minorities (mostly heterosexual; lesbian, gay, and bisexual [LGB]) compared to completely heterosexual participants, and gender minorities compared to cisgender participants.

Constructions of HIV Risk Among a Diverse Sample of HIV-Negative Young Men Who Have Sex With Men Who Are Repeat Testers.

Introduction: To end the HIV epidemic, HIV prevention and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) promotion efforts must reach young men who have sex with men (YMSM) at greatest risk for HIV. This study qualitatively explored whether common metrics used by clinicians, scientists, and public health officials to objectively assess HIV risk align with how YMSM conceptualize their risk for HIV and the factors that shape YMSM's risk perceptions.

Methods: Interviews with a racially/ethnically diverse sample of HIV-negative YMSM (ages 19-24 years, 60% Latinx; n = 20) examined conceptualizations of HIV risk within the context of repeat HIV testing.

"It's Just a Band-Aid on Something No One Really Wants to See or Acknowledge": A Photovoice Study with Transitional Aged Youth Experiencing Homelessness to Examine the Roots of San Diego's 2016-2018 Hepatitis A Outbreak.

San Diego, California is consistently ranked among regions with the highest rates of homelessness in the United States. From 2016 to 2018, San Diego experienced an unprecedented outbreak of hepatitis A virus (HAV), largely attributed in media and public health discourse to the region's growing population of people experiencing homelessness. Little attention, however, was devoted to examining the experiences and needs of this population, particularly transitional aged youth (TAY, aged 18-24) experiencing homelessness who may have been uniquely affected by the outbreak.

"You Get a PhD and We Get a Few Hundred Bucks": Mutual Benefits in Participatory Action Research?

Participatory action research (PAR), community-based participatory research, and other participatory approaches continue to gain popularity within the field of public health and allied disciplines in an effort to democratize the production of knowledge and contribute to sustainable community health improvements. Consequently, more students and early-career scholars will elect to incorporate participatory approaches in their dissertations and other early-career research studies in an effort to meaningfully influence community health equity in a variety of contexts. While there is a growing body of literature on the processes and challenges involved in PAR, community-based participatory research, and other participatory research, early-career scholars infrequently critically reflect on and detail learnings from their participatory research studies in the academic literature.

Sexual orientation and gender identity disparities in substance use disorders during young adulthood in a United States longitudinal cohort.

Background: This study examined associations of sexual orientation and gender identity with prevalence of substance use disorders (SUDs) and co-occurring multiple SUDs in the past 12-months during young adulthood in a United States longitudinal cohort.

Methods: Questionnaires self-administered in 2010 and 2015 assessed probable past 12-month nicotine dependence, alcohol abuse and dependence, and drug abuse and dependence among 12,428 participants of an ongoing cohort study when they were ages 20-35 years. Binary or multinomial logistic regressions using generalized estimating equations were used to estimate differences by sexual orientation and gender identity in the odds of SUDs and multiple SUDs, stratified by sex assigned at birth.

Stress, Coping, and Context: Examining Substance Use Among LGBTQ Young Adults With Probable Substance Use Disorders.

Objective: The authors qualitatively examined how lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) young adults with probable substance use disorders conceptualized their substance use vis-à-vis their LGBTQ identities.

Methods: Individual, in-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted with 59 LGBTQ young adults (ages 21-34) who were participants in a larger longitudinal cohort study and who met criteria for a probable substance use disorder. Data were analyzed via iterative, thematic analytic processes.

Reasons Why Young Men Who Have Sex with Men Report Not Using HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis: Perceptions of Burden, Need, and Safety.

Uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has dramatically increased but remains well below the estimated number of individuals who could benefit from PrEP in the United States, and uptake remains limited among young men who have sex with men (YMSM) and MSM of color. Reasons for adopting PrEP as a prevention strategy among those at elevated risk for HIV is an important area of inquiry that could advise efforts to better position PrEP as an active part of prevention programs. As part of a mixed methods study investigating experiences with repeat HIV testing, we identified main themes emerging from in-depth interview data pertaining to reasons why YMSM report using PrEP, among YMSM with frequent access to HIV testing services.

"Anywhere but here": Querying spatial stigma as a social determinant of health among youth of color accessing LGBTQ services in Chicago's Boystown.

The link between stigma and negative health outcomes is established, yet available research infrequently considers the complex intersection of place, race, and class-based stigma and how this stigma shapes opportunities and health among marginalized groups. Furthermore, scholarship on the relationship between stigma and health often fails to include the voices of the stigmatized themselves. This exclusion renders their lived-experiences hidden and their insight devalued, producing findings with limited validity to promote health equity and social change.

Using Community-Driven, Participatory Qualitative Inquiry to Discern Nuanced Community Health Needs and Assets of Chicago's La Villita, a Mexican Immigrant Neighborhood.

In predominately immigrant neighborhoods, the nuances of immigrant life in the ethnic enclave have important, yet underappreciated impact on community health. The complexities of immigrant experiences are essential to unpacking and addressing the impact of acculturative processes on observed racial, ethnic, and class-based health disparities in the United States. These insights because they are largely unexplored are best captured qualitatively through academic-community research partnership.

Enhancing Themes and Strengths Assessment: Leveraging Academic-Led Qualitative Inquiry in Community Health Assessment to Uncover Roots of Community Health Inequities.

Context: Rigorous qualitative research can enhance local health departments' efforts to gain a deeper insight into residents' perceived community health inequities necessary for productive community health assessments (CHAs) and community health improvement plans (CHIPs).

Objective: The Chicago Department of Public Health and the Partnership for Healthy Chicago used the National Association of County & City Health Officials' Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) model to conduct its CHA/CHIP, Healthy Chicago 2.0 (HC 2.

Percutaneous closure of a left atrial appendage pseudoaneurysm.

Atrial dissections and pseudoaneurysms are rare complications of cardiac surgery. The authors describe the case of a patient after mitral valve replacement who presented with a left atrial appendage pseudoaneurysm. This case represents the first known closure of an atrial pseudoaneurysm with a percutaneous septal occluder device.