High engagement in nonpharmaceutical interventions and their associations with reduced COVID-19 among US college students.

Background: Nonpharmaceutical interventions, including face mask-wearing, physical distancing, and avoidance of crowds and poorly ventilated spaces, have been widely recommended to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2. To date, there is little data available on engagement in nonpharmaceutical interventions and COVID-19 in college students. Using a large sample of college students, we estimate the prevalence of engagement in mask-wearing, physical distancing, and avoidance of crowds/poorly ventilated spaces and their associations with COVID-19.

Liberals are Believers: Young People Assign Trust to Social Media for COVID-19 Information.

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged existing health communication strategies as more people turn to social media as a primary health information source. Although many studies have explored how young people use social media, this study examined how sociodemographic factors and political ideology are associated with use and trust in social media as a source for COVID-19 information among young adults, and how use and trust in social media as a COVID-19 information source are associated with their beliefs about COVID-19. In Spring 2021, an online survey was conducted among 2,105 18-29-year-old students at an urban university in California.

COVID-19 vaccine coverage among college students following vaccine mandates.

Objective: Colleges are potential hotspots for transmission of SARS-CoV-2 due to lower immunization rates and possible close contacts among young adults. Some universities have implemented policies mandating COVID-19 vaccination; however, their effects remain uncertain. We estimated COVID-19 vaccination rates with and without university-mandated vaccination policies.

Using Text Message Surveys to Evaluate a Mobile Sexual Health Question-and-Answer Service.

Text message programs for sexual health are becoming increasingly popular as practitioners aim to meet youth on media they use frequently. Two-way mobile health (mHealth) interventions allow for feedback solicitation from participants. This study explores the use of a text message survey to assess demographics and program feedback from users of an adolescent sexual health text message question-and-answer service.

Early Sex Work Initiation and Violence against Female Sex Workers in Mombasa, Kenya.

Between 20 and 40 % of female sex workers (FSWs) began sex work before age 18. Little is known concerning whether early initiation of sex work impacts later experiences in adulthood, including violence victimization. This paper examines the relationship between early initiation of sex work and violence victimization during adulthood.

Mobile Phone Interventions for Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health: A Systematic Review.

Context: Interventions for adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) are increasingly using mobile phones but may not effectively report evidence.

Objective: To assess strategies, findings, and quality of evidence on using mobile phones to improve ASRH by using the mHealth Evidence Reporting and Assessment (mERA) checklist recently published by the World Health Organization mHealth Technical Evidence Review Group.

Data Sources: Systematic searches of 8 databases for peer-reviewed studies published January 2000 through August 2014.

Early sex work initiation and condom use among alcohol-using female sex workers in Mombasa, Kenya: a cross-sectional analysis.

Objectives: Early initiation of sex work is prevalent among female sex workers (FSWs) worldwide. The objectives of this study were to investigate if early initiation of sex work was associated with: (1) consistent condom use, (2) condom negotiation self-efficacy or (3) condom use norms among alcohol-using FSWs in Mombasa, Kenya.

Methods: In-person interviews were conducted with 816 FSWs in Mombasa, Kenya.

Influence of perceived interactivity of a sexual health text message service on young people's attitudes, satisfaction and repeat use.

Sexual health text message services are becoming an increasingly popular way to reach young people with sexual health information. A variety of service types exist: some send automated messages on a set schedule; others provide personalized responses to individual questions. Young people's perceptions of interactivity, which is often based on system responsiveness, may vary.

Adolescent/Youth Reproductive Mobile Access and Delivery Initiative for Love and Life Outcomes (ARMADILLO) Study: formative protocol for mHealth platform development and piloting.

Background: There is a high unmet need for sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information and services among youth (ages 15-24) worldwide (MacQuarrie KLD. Unmet Need for Family Planning among Young Women: Levels and Trends 2014). With the proliferation of mobile technology, and its popularity with this age group, mobile phones offer a novel and accessible platform for a discreet, on-demand service providing SRH information.

Scaled-Up Mobile Phone Intervention for HIV Care and Treatment: Protocol for a Facility Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Adherence to prevention, care, and treatment recommendations among people living with HIV (PLHIV) is a critical challenge. Yet good clinical outcomes depend on consistent, high adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimens. Mobile phones offer a promising means to improve patient adherence and health outcomes.

A randomized controlled trial of a brief intervention to reduce alcohol use among female sex workers in Mombasa, Kenya.

Objective: We assessed whether a brief alcohol intervention would lead to reduced alcohol use and sexually transmitted infection (STI)/HIV incidence and related sexual risk behaviors among moderate drinking female sex workers.

Methods: A randomized controlled intervention trial was conducted with 818 female sex workers affiliated with the AIDS, Population, Health, and Integrated Assistance II project in Mombasa, Kenya. Eligible women were hazardous or harmful drinkers who scored between 7 and 19 (full range, 1-40) on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test.

There are some questions you may not ask in a clinic: providing contraception information to young people in Kenya using SMS.

Objective: To evaluate the acceptability, information access, and potential behavioral impact of providing contraception information via text message on mobile phones to young people in Kenya.

Methods: Three methods of data collection were implemented during the 17-month pilot period for the Mobile for Reproductive Health (m4RH) program in Kenya: automatic logging of all queries to the m4RH system; demographic and behavior change questions sent via short message service protocol (SMS) to everyone who used m4RH during the pilot period; and telephone interviews with a subset of m4RH users.

Results: During the pilot period, 4817 unique users accessed m4RH in Kenya.

Women's roles in voluntary medical male circumcision in Nyanza Province, Kenya.

Women are an important audience for voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) communication messages so that they know that VMMC provides only partial protection against HIV. They may also be able to influence their male partners to get circumcised and practice other HIV protective measures after VMMC. This study was conducted in two phases of qualitative data collection.

Evaluating feasibility, reach and potential impact of a text message family planning information service in Tanzania.

Background: The objective of this research was to evaluate the feasibility, reach and potential behavioral impact of providing automated family planning information via mobile phones to the general public in Tanzania.

Study Design: Data from users of the Mobile for Reproductive Health (m4RH) program were collected during the 10-month pilot period. First, contraceptive methods queried by each user were electronically logged by the mobile phone system.

Bridge over troubled waters: considerations in transitioning emergency contraceptive users to hormonal methods.

Background: As emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) become increasingly available through pharmacies, concerns about potential overuse of this product have emerged. In response, bridging women from ECPs to ongoing contraception was advanced as a solution.

Study Design: We collected information in Ghanaian pharmacies on ECP users' sexual activity, use of contraceptive methods and reasons for buying ECPs.

"I love my ECPs": challenges to bridging emergency contraceptive users to more effective contraceptive methods in Ghana.

Background And Methods: Emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) are becoming more popular, yet little is known about the contraceptive preferences of women who take ECPs. Women purchasing ECPs were recruited from pharmacies in Accra, Ghana. A total of 24 semi-structured, qualitative interviews were conducted in May 2008.

Comprehension of a prototype emergency contraception package label by female adolescents.

Background: We evaluated female adolescents' comprehension of a prototype over-the-counter package label for an emergency contraceptive pill product.

Study Design: Volunteers aged 12-17 years who could read English were recruited at malls and clinics in six United States metropolitan areas. After completing a literacy assessment, subjects examined the prototype package and answered 20 questions that assessed understanding of six key concepts related to appropriate use of the product.

R-rated movies, bedroom televisions, and initiation of smoking by white and black adolescents.

Objective: To test movie exposure and television use as predictors of smoking initiation among white and black adolescents who had never smoked cigarettes.

Design: Survey research using audio computer-assisted self-interviews at baseline and at 2-year follow-up (2002-2004).

Setting: Participants' homes located in central North Carolina.

Early adolescents' cognitive susceptibility to initiating sexual intercourse.

Context: Better methods for investigating sexual risk before the initiation of sexual intercourse are needed to support programming for younger adolescents, especially for abstinent adolescents who are susceptible to initiating intercourse.

Methods: A sample of 854 adolescents in seventh or eighth grade who had never had sexual intercourse completed sexuality surveys in 2002 and 2004. A five-item index that assessed beliefs and expectations about the onset of intercourse was created to indicate adolescents' cognitive susceptibility to initiating intercourse.

Sexy media matter: exposure to sexual content in music, movies, television, and magazines predicts black and white adolescents' sexual behavior.

Objective: To assess over time whether exposure to sexual content in 4 mass media (television, movies, music, and magazines) used by early adolescents predicts sexual behavior in middle adolescence.

Methods: An in-home longitudinal survey of 1017 black and white adolescents from 14 middle schools in central North Carolina was conducted. Each teen was interviewed at baseline when he or she was 12 to 14 years old and again 2 years later using a computer-assisted self interview (audio computer-assisted self-interview) to ensure confidentiality.

The mass media are an important context for adolescents' sexual behavior.

Purpose: This study compared influences from the mass media (television, music, movies, magazines) on adolescents' sexual intentions and behaviors to other socialization contexts, including family, religion, school, and peers.

Methods: A sample of 1011 Black and White adolescents from 14 middle schools in the Southeastern United States completed linked mail surveys about their media use and in-home Audio-CASI interviews about their sexual intentions and behaviors. Analysis of the sexual content in 264 media vehicles used by respondents was also conducted.

Mass media as a sexual super peer for early maturing girls.

Purpose: To investigate the possibility that the mass media (television, movies, music, and magazines) serve as a kind of super peer for girls who enter puberty sooner than their age-mates. Multiple studies have demonstrated significant associations between earlier pubertal timing and earlier transition to first sex. Does puberty also stimulate interest in sexual media content that is seen as giving permission to engage in sexual behavior?

Methods: White and African-American female adolescents (n = 471; average age 13.