Publications by authors named "Linda Marc"

The nationwide scale-up of evidence-based and evidence-informed interventions has been widely recognized as a crucial step in ending the HIV epidemic. Although the successful delivery of interventions may involve intensive expert training, technical assistance (TA), and dedicated funding, most organizations attempt to replicate interventions without access to focused expert guidance. Thus, there is a grave need for initiatives that meaningfully address HIV health disparities while addressing these inherent limitations.

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The integration of behavioral health services within human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) care settings holds promise for improving substance use, mental health, and HIV-related health outcomes for people with HIV. As part of an initiative funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration's HIV/AIDS Bureau, we conducted a narrative review of interventions focused on behavioral health integration (BHI) in HIV care in the United States (US). Our literature search yielded 19 intervention studies published between 2010 and 2021.

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Transgender women experience a disproportionate prevalence of HIV and barriers to linkage to care, retention in care, medication adherence, and viral suppression. As part of a national cooperative agreement funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration's HIV/AIDS Bureau, we searched the literature from January 1, 2010, through June 1, 2020, for English-language articles on interventions designed to improve at least 1 HIV care continuum outcome or address 1 barrier to achieving HIV care continuum outcomes among transgender women diagnosed with HIV in the United States. To be included, articles needed to identify transgender women as a priority population for the intervention.

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Disparities persist along the HIV care continuum among Black men who have sex with men (MSM) in the USA. As part of an initiative funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration's HIV/AIDS Bureau (US Department of Health and Human Services), we searched for recently published interventions focused on improving HIV care continuum outcomes among Black MSM with HIV in the USA. Our search identified 14 interventions, all of which were associated with at least one statistically significant outcome.

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Traumatic experiences are disproportionately prevalent among people with HIV and adversely affect HIV-related health outcomes. As part of a national cooperative agreement funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration's HIV/AIDS Bureau, we searched the literature for interventions designed to address trauma among people with HIV in the U.S.

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Importance: Acne is a common condition among transgender patients receiving masculinizing hormone therapy (MHT), but the incident risk and predictors of developing acne in this population have not yet been studied on a large scale.

Objective: To assess risk of acne among a large population of transgender patients receiving MHT and clinical risk factors for acne diagnosis.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A retrospective cohort study that included 988 patients who started MHT between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2017, with at least 1 year of follow-up was performed.

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Background: Women with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may have decreased sexual function. To understand how common this condition is in our female patients, we developed a new IBD-specific Female Sexual Dysfunction Scale (the IBD-FSDS).

Methods: We performed a prospective cross-sectional study of 454 female IBD patients ≥18 years of age attending 1 of 3 IBD clinics in the United States or Denmark.

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Background: Men with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may have increased sexual dysfunction. To measure the prevalence of sexual dysfunction in our male patients, we aimed to develop a new IBD-specific Male Sexual Dysfunction Scale (the IBD-MSDS).

Methods: We used a cross-sectional survey and enrolled male patients (N = 175) ≥18 years old who attended IBD clinics at 2 Boston hospitals.

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Background: There is limited information on depression in Haitians and this is partly attributable to the absence of culturally and linguistically adapted measures for depression.

Objective: To perform a psychometric evaluation of the Haitian-Creole version of the PHQ-9 administered to men who have sex with men (MSM) in the Republic of Haiti.

Design: This study uses a cross-sectional design and data are from the Integrated Behavioral and Biological HIV Survey (IBBS) for MSM in Haiti.

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Sexual violence is a public health problem in Haiti, potentially augmenting HIV transmission. Reports from L'Hôpital de l'Université d'État d'Haiti (HUEH) suggest severe underutilization of antiretroviral post-exposure prophylaxis (ARV-PEP) among rape survivors. Cross-sectional design using mixed methods.

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The objective of this article is to psychometrically validate the HIV symptom distress scale (SDS), an instrument that can be used to measure overall HIV symptom distress or clinically relevant groups of HIV symptoms. A secondary data analysis was conducted using the Collaborations in HIV Outcomes Research US Cohort (CHORUS). Inclusion criteria required study participants (N=5521) to have a valid baseline measure of the AIDS Clinical Trial Group Symptom Distress Module, with an SF-12 or SF-36 completed on the same day.

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Objective: To examine a cohort of HIV+ study participants, who are caregivers (CGs) and non-caregivers (NCGs), to determine whether differences exist across their sociodemographic backgrounds, immune functioning, and quality-of-life (i.e., symptom distress, physical, and mental quality-of-life).

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Objective: Haitian-born persons have been historically stigmatized for introducing HIV to North America; however, no previous study has reported on the national HIV surveillance trends among this foreign-born group.

Methods: Annual AIDS cases were estimated for adults and adolescents (aged >12 years) from all 50 US states and the District of Columbia who were diagnosed between 1985 and 2007, and who reported 'Haiti' as country of birth to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV data (with or without AIDS) for Haitian-born adults and adolescents diagnosed between 2004 and 2007 were obtained from 34 US states.

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Objective: To empirically evaluate the psychometric properties of the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15); determine the optimal cutoff points and screening performance for the detection of major depression; and examine differential item functioning (DIF) to determine the variability of item responses across sociodemographics in an elderly home care population.

Design: A secondary analysis of data collected from a random sample study.

Setting: Homebound subjects newly admitted over a 2-year-period to a large visiting nurse service agency in Westchester, New York.

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Objective: Previous research has demonstrated an association between educational attainment (EA) and negative physical and psychological outcomes. This study investigated whether EA is associated with regimen failure during initial therapy with highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) and whether adherence self-efficacy (ASE), a coping resource, moderates the relationship between EA and regimen failure.

Methods: A secondary analysis of AIDS Clinical Trial Group Protocol 384, an international, multicenter, randomized, partially double-blinded trial, included 799 male and 181 female antiretroviral-naïve subjects (age, 37.

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It is widely recognized that adherence to antiretroviral therapy is critical to long-term treatment success, yet rates of adherence to antiretroviral medications are frequently subtherapeutic. Beliefs about antiretroviral therapy and psychosocial characteristics of HIV-positive persons naive to therapy may influence early experience with antiretroviral medication adherence and therefore could be important when designing programs to improve adherence to antiretroviral therapy. As part of a multicenter AIDS Clinical Trial Group (ACTG 384) study, 980 antiretroviral-naive subjects (82% male, 47% White, median age 36 years, and median CD4 cell count 278 cells/mm3) completed a self-administered questionnaire prior to random treatment assignment of initial antiretroviral medications.

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