A Pilot Study of a Sibling-Based Online Intervention to Increase PrEP Uptake and Willingness Among Latino MSM.

This study explored the feasibility and acceptability of Entre Herman@s, a novel sibling-based intervention designed to engage siblings to increase PrEP utilization among Latino men who have sex with men (LMSM). Siblings were trained in rudimentary motivational interviewing skills to uncover, evoke, and strengthen their brother's motivation to use PrEP, using the constructs of the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) model for health behavior change. This pilot demonstrated high feasibility, meeting recruitment, retention, and intervention completion targets.

Ethical Issues in Treating Substance Use Disorders: Counselor Perspectives.

Ethical issues arise frequently in the treatment of substance use disorders (SUD). Counselors need guidance to navigate ethical dilemmas but receive limited training in resolving ethical issues. To narrow the gap between the ethical dilemmas counselors face and their training, this qualitative study assessed ethical issues that counselors encounter, how they resolve them, and desired training.

The Impact of Sibling Relationships on Behavioral and Sexual Health among Latino Sexual Minority Men.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a highly effective method for preventing HIV acquisition and plays a crucial role in the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the US initiative. However, there are various barriers that hinder the access and uptake of PrEP among Latino sexual minority men (SMM) at individual, interpersonal, and cultural levels. While the significance of cultural factors in designing and implementing HIV prevention programs for Latino populations has been consistently emphasized in the literature and prioritized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, few studies have directly integrated these cultural factors into their programs.

Would the Siblings of Latinx Men Who Have Sex With Men Encourage Their Brothers to Use PrEP? Findings From a Feasibility and Acceptability Study.

We explored whether siblings can be engaged in PrEP promotion. We used the Information-Motivation-Behavior model to develop and conduct surveys and dyadic interviews with Latino men who have sex with men (LMSM) and their siblings (n = 31) and three sibling-only focus groups (n = 20). For LMSM, only n = 14 (45%) agreed they would benefit from taking PrEP, yet = 22 (71%) would take PrEP to make their sibling worry less about them, and = 23 (74%) requested a PrEP referral.

Drug Use, Family Support, and Depressive Symptoms Among Latinx Sexual Minority Men: A Longitudinal Analysis.

Family rejection has negative health consequences for Latinx sexual minority men (LSMM). However, LSMM often reconcile with their families, a phenomenon cross-sectional studies miss. We analyzed longitudinal data from the Healthy Young Men's Study in Los Angeles.

Measuring Gender Role Conflict, Internalized Stigma, and Racial and Sexual Identity in Behaviorally Bisexual Black Men.

Black men who have sex with men and women (BMSMW) experience pressure to fill hypermasculine ideals and may not identify with "gay" cultural norms. Existing measures of gender role expectations and internalized homophobia are not culturally appropriate for BMSMW. Researchers generally measure categorical identification with race, gender, and sexual orientation groups separately, whereas BMSMW may identify with multiple categories.

"Being downcast by society… adds to the stress levels and would explain why [we] smoke more.": Smoking among HIV-Positive Black Men Who Have Sex with Men.

Smoking causes more deaths among people living with HIV than HIV infection itself. Few smoking cessation interventions and studies of sexual minority communities have considered the lived experiences of Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) living with HIV. Before developing interventions for these men, we need to answer: How do experiences of discrimination and stigma influence their perceptions of smoking? This phenomenological study was led by a community-based organization.

A Modified Alcohol SBI for Use among Older Adults Living with HIV.

Older adults living with HIV may have health conditions that amplify the potentially negative health effects of alcohol use. We adapted the Comorbidity Alcohol Risk Evaluation Tool (CARET) screening tool for at-risk drinking to reflect HIV/AIDS and related conditions, medications, and behaviors. The adapted CARET-HIV along with a brief intervention was administered to 27 older men living with HIV.

Marijuana Use among African American Older Adults in Economically Challenged Areas of South Los Angeles.

This study explored demographic, social, behavioral, and health factors associated with current marijuana use (MU) among African American older adults who were residing in economically challenged areas of south Los Angeles. This community-based study recruited a consecutive sample of African American older adults ( = 340), age ≥ 55 years, residing in economically challenged areas of South Los Angeles. Interviews were conducted to collect data.

Older Californians and the Mental Health Services Act: Is an Older Adult System of Care Supported?

This policy brief summarizes findings from the first study to evaluate how California's public mental health delivery system has served older adults (60 years of age and over) since the passage of the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) in 2004. Study findings indicate that there are unmet needs among older adults with mental illness in the public mental health delivery system. There are deficits in the involvement of older adults in the required MHSA planning processes and in outreach and service delivery, workforce development, and outcomes measurement and reporting.

Attitudes towards exercise among substance using older adults living with HIV and chronic pain.

Chronic pain and substance use disorders occur commonly among HIV-infected persons. Recent CDC guidelines recommend non-pharmacologic approaches over opioid medications for the management of chronic pain. This is particularly relevant for persons with substance use disorders.

Age and Age Discordance Associations with Condomless Sex Among Men Who Have Sex with Men.

We explored the effect of older partner's age and age difference between partners on condomless sex among men who have sex with men (MSM). We analyzed dyads (n = 1720) from participants (n = 969) in the Sexual Acquisition Transmission of HIV Cooperative Agreement Program. We used modified Poisson regression to model the probability of a sexual encounter's being condomless as a function of older partner's age and age difference between partners adjusting for HIV status, substance use, race/ethnicity, and partner type.

Integrating Community Expertise into the Academy: South Los Angeles' Community-Academic Model for Partnered Research.

The Problem: Charles R. Drew University (CDU) and community partners wanted to create a structure to transcend traditional community-academic partnerships. They wanted community leaders integrated into CDU's research goals and education of medical professionals.

Stigma and Family Relationships of Middle-Aged Gay Men in Recovery.

The primary objective of this study was to explore how middle-aged gay men in recovery cope with stigma and family relationships. For gay men, perceptions of acceptance of their sexual orientation and degree of social connectedness can play a role in their recovery from alcohol and substance use disorders. Yet gay men may have a more difficult time accessing certain family-level health resources because their families of origin may stigmatize, reject or silence them on account of their sexual orientation.

The Healthy Community Neighborhood Initiative: Rationale and Design.

Objective: To describe the design and rationale of the Healthy Community Neighborhood Initiative (HCNI), a multi-component study to understand and document health risk and resources in a low-income and minority community.

Design: A community-partnered participatory research project.

Setting: A low-income, biethnic African American and Latino neighborhood in South Los Angeles.

Development and Preliminary Testing of a Promotora-Delivered, Spanish Language, Counseling Intervention for Heavy Drinking among Male, Latino Day Laborers.

This study developed and then tested the feasibility, acceptability and initial efficacy of a 3-session, culturally adapted, intervention combining motivational enhancement therapy (MET) and strengths-based case management (SBCM) delivered by promotoras in Spanish to reduce heavy drinking among male, Latino day laborers. A pilot two-group randomized trial (N=29) was conducted to evaluate the initial efficacy of MET/SBCM compared to brief feedback (BF). Alcohol-related measures were assessed at 6, 12 and 18weeks after baseline.

Faculty Participation in and Needs around Community Engagement within a Large Multiinstitutional Clinical and Translational Science Awardee.

Community engagement is recommended to ensure the public health impact of NIH-funded science. To understand the prevalence of community-engaged research and faculty interest in and needs around this, from 2012 to 2013, an online survey (n = 3,022) was sent to UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute faculty. Among respondents, 45% reported community-engaged project participation in the last year and 64% an interest in learning about community-engaged research.

Strategies to Build Trust and Recruit African American and Latino Community Residents for Health Research: A Cohort Study.

Background: This study used Community Partnered Participatory Research (CPPR) to address low participation of racial and ethnic minorities in medical research and the lack of trust between underrepresented communities and researchers.

Methods: Using a community and academic partnership in July 2012, residents of a South Los Angeles neighborhood were exposed to research recruitment strategies: referral by word-of-mouth, community agencies, direct marketing, and extant study participants.

Results: Among 258 community members exposed to recruitment strategies, 79.

Online Social Networking, Sexual Risk and Protective Behaviors: Considerations for Clinicians and Researchers.

Online social networking refers to the use of internet-based technologies that facilitate connection and communication between users. These platforms may be accessed via computer or mobile device (e.g.

The Los Angeles Healthy Community Neighborhood Initiative: A Ten Year Experience in Building and Sustaining a Successful Community-Academic Partnership.

Background: Developing effective Community-Academic Partnerships (CAPs) is challenging, and the steps to build and sustain them have not been well documented. This paper describes efforts to form and sustain the Healthy Community Neighborhood Initiative (HCNI), a CAP to improve health in a low-income community in South Los Angeles.

Methods: Moderated, semi-structured discussions with HCNI community and academic partners were used to develop a framework for CAP formation.

Negotiating Emotional Support: Sober Gay Latinos and their Families.

This study explores how sober gay Latino men obtain support from their families. Familial ties can be a protective health factor, yet many gay Latinos experience rejection from family members because of their sexuality. There are very few studies that examine the extent and quality of emotional support from kin for this population.

Leveraging family values to decrease unhealthy alcohol use in aging Latino day laborers.

In one Los Angeles study, 20 % of day laborers reported excessive drinking. Older adults are more sensitive to alcohol's effects, yet heavy drinking persists among Latinos until they are in their 60s. No interventions to reduce heavy drinking exist for aging day laborers.

Type of alcohol drink and exposure to violence: an emergency department study.

We compared the prevalence of exposure to violence across different types of alcohol consumed and the association between the type of alcohol consumed and exposure to violence. A cross-sectional analysis of data collected from a sample of 295 Emergency Department (ED) patients identified as having an alcohol problem. Outcome measure include exposure to violence, and the main study predictor was "type of alcoholic drink" including: malt liquor beer (MLB), regular beer, wine cooler, wine, fortified wine or hard liquor.

Acción Mutua (Shared Action): a multipronged approach to delivering capacity-building assistance to agencies serving Latino communities in the United States.

Culturally appropriate, theory-based capacity-building assistance can serve a vital role in helping HIV prevention providers remain up-to-date, effective, and responsive to those they serve. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), AIDS Project Los Angeles, in collaboration with San Francisco State University's César E. Chávez Institute, conducted full-day site visits and qualitative interviews in 2005 with mid-level management staff of CDC-funded community-based organizations delivering HIV prevention services to Latino communities in the western region of the United States.