Evaluation of Colorectal Cancer Screening in Federally Qualified Health Centers.

Introduction: Screening for colorectal cancer in average-risk adults is recommended beginning at age 50 years and continuing until age 75 years. This study was conducted to provide evidence for the effectiveness of an American Cancer Society grant program promoting colorectal cancer screening by implementing evidence-based interventions proven to increase screening rates.

Methods: Analysis compared colorectal cancer screening rates in 77 grant-funded federally qualified health centers between 2013 and 2015 to those of a sample of 77 nonfunded federally qualified health centers selected using a genetic matching technique.

A Community Health Advisor Program to Reduce Cancer Screening Disparities in the Deep South and Appalachia: The American Cancer Society's CHA Collaborative.

Introduction: Cancer disparities continue to exist in the United States. Community health advisors (CHAs) can play a critical role in addressing cancer disparities. The American Cancer Society (ACS) implemented a 3-year pilot CHA program in the South based on an evidence-based program to increase breast cancer screening.

Evaluating the effects of community-based organization engagement on HIV and AIDS-related risk behavior in Kenya.

International donors have increasingly shifted AIDS funding directly to community-based organizations (CBOs) with the assumption that responding to the epidemic is best achieved at the community level. The World Bank, ICF Macro, and the National Council for Population and Development in Kenya, conducted a study to evaluate the community response in Kenya. The study used a quasi-experimental design comparing seven study communities and seven comparison communities in Nyanza Province and Western Province.

Substance use patterns and mental health diagnosis among youth in mental health treatment: a latent class analysis.

This study examines patterns of substance use among youth served in systems of care, and how these patterns relate to diagnosis and other youth characteristics using latent class analysis. Results indicated a four-class solution with the four groups differing in their probabilities of reporting the use of 10 different substances. Class 1 was defined by high probabilities of all drug use.

Gender differences in the impact of social support on crack use among African Americans.

This article examines the influence of social support on crack use in a sample of 435 African American out-of-treatment crack users recruited through street outreach in Raleigh, North Carolina, between 2000 and 2002. Multivariate regression models indicated that social support was not a strong influence on crack use. For women, no social support variables predicted crack use, whereas for men, having a non-using partner was negatively associated with crack use.

African-American crack abusers and drug treatment initiation: barriers and effects of a pretreatment intervention.

Background: Individual and sociocultural factors may pose significant barriers for drug abusers seeking treatment, particularly for African-American crack cocaine abusers. However, there is evidence that pretreatment interventions may reduce treatment initiation barriers. This study examined the effects of a pretreatment intervention designed to enhance treatment motivation, decrease crack use, and prepare crack abusers for treatment entry.

Secondary syringe exchange among users of 23 California syringe exchange programs.

This article describes the secondary syringe exchange (SSE) practices of injection drug users (IDUs) attending 23 syringe exchange programs (SEPs) in the state of California during 2002 (n=539). The sample was primarily heroin injecting, about two thirds male, half White and half other racial/ethnic groups. Participants were interviewed with a structured questionnaire that included items on sociodemographic factors, drug use practices, sexual practices, use of SEP and other social services, and satisfaction with SEP services.

Discordance in monogamy beliefs, sexual concurrency, and condom use among young adult substance-involved couples: implications for risk of sexually transmitted infections.

Objectives And Goal: The objectives of this study were to examine the association between individual and partnership characteristics with condom use, sexual concurrency, and discordance in monogamy perceptions among out-of-treatment, young adult, drug-involved couples to gain a better understanding of how discordance in monogamy beliefs may influence HIV/sexually transmitted infection risk.

Study Design: Data were collected from 94 predominantly black heavy alcohol and/or drug users (AOD) and their steady partners recruited through street outreach in Durham, North Carolina, and a methadone clinic in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Results: One third was wrong about partners' monogamy intentions.

Sexual relationships, secondary syringe exchange, and gender differences in HIV risk among drug injectors.

Injection drug use continues to place women at risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) through both risky injecting practices and risky sexual behavior with male injection drug users (IDUs). Although attendance at syringe-exchange programs (SEPs) is protective against HIV, a recent study found that women attending SEPs who exchanged syringes for other people (secondary exchange) were at greater risk for HIV seroconversion, potentially through risky sexual behavior. We examined this question in a sample of 531 IDUs (175 women and 356 men) attending 23 SEPs in California in 2001.

The influence of partner drug use and relationship power on treatment engagement.

Substance-using intimate partners negatively influence individuals' substance abuse treatment engagement and drug use, but little else is known about effects of intimate relationships on treatment. We examine how relationship dynamics (power, control, dependence, insecurity and decision-making power) influence treatment engagement, and whether this differs by gender and partner drug use. Sixty-four heroin users (42 men, 22 women) receiving methadone detoxification treatment in Los Angeles were interviewed at treatment entry and submitted daily diaries of drug use throughout the 21-day treatment.

Depressive symptoms among amphetamine and cocaine users before and after substance abuse treatment.

This study examined whether higher rates of depressive symptoms among amphetamine compared with cocaine users result from amphetamine use itself, polydrug use, or experiencing a major lifetime depressive episode and whether depressive symptoms among amphetamine users are more likely to persist 12 months after treatment. The association between amphetamine use and depressive symptoms disappears when controlling for polydrug use and lifetime major depressive episode. Polydrug use and lifetime depressive episode are significantly related to depressive symptoms in the year preceding treatment.