The use and operationalization of "structural stigma" in health-related research: A scoping review.

Background: Research that investigates the negative health effects of stigma beyond the individual and interpersonal levels is increasingly using the concept of "structural stigma." This scoping review investigates how the concept of "structural stigma" has been used and operationalized in health-related literature to date in order to characterize its usage and inform future operationalizations.

Methods: A systematic search and screening process identified peer-reviewed, English-language research articles that used the term "structural stigma" available prior to January 1, 2024 in five databases (i.

Changes in sex composition of births across regions and subgroups in India from an analysis of birth histories from National Family Health Surveys.

India has consistently had one of the highest birth sex ratios (i.e., most males per female) globally.

Exploring Organizational Digital Readiness to Offer Youth E-Mentoring.

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted many youth mentoring programs to offer digital services (e-mentoring). The sustained success of these efforts depended, in large part, on organizations' digital readiness. Although there are established, broad measures of digital readiness, mentoring organizations have unique requirements for readiness that have not been previously measured.

Deaths of despair-associated mortality rates globally: a 2000-2019 sex-specific disparities analysis.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore sex-specific disparities in rates of deaths of despair across 183 countries from 2000 to 2019.

Study Design: Secondary analysis of cross-sectional population-level data.

Methods: Data were obtained from the World Health Organization Health Inequality Data Repository.

The influence of neuropeptide Y (NPY) on the relationship between emotion regulation and mood-related pathology in survivors of childhood interpersonal trauma.

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a 36-amino acid peptide that is widely expressed throughout the limbic system. Recent evidence has highlighted NPY as a marker of resilience to posttraumatic psychopathology, which may be due to its association with neural regions involved with emotion regulation. This study examined whether plasma NPY levels moderated the relationship between emotion regulation and psychopathology in a sample of adult survivors of childhood interpersonal trauma, a population known to be at high risk for psychopathology.

Inequities in COVID-19-Related Patient Outcomes by Socio-Demographic Characteristics: A Scoping Review.

Socio-demographic inequities in health treatment and outcomes are not new. However, the COVID-19 pandemic presented new opportunities to examine and address biases. This article describes a scoping review of 170 papers published prior to the onset of global vaccinations and treatment (December 2021).

From crisis to capacity: Lessons learned from youth e-mentoring during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated need for social isolation left in-person youth mentoring programs scrambling to keep mentees and mentors connected, and many programs turned to e-mentoring. To better understand the transition period and to inform e-mentoring practice in a post-COVID world, this study explored the experience of mentoring programs shifting to e-mentoring during the first year of the pandemic. Seven remote focus group discussions were conducted with twenty-three staff members from twenty U.

Drug Use-Related Discrimination in Healthcare Settings and Subsequent Emergency Department Utilization in a Prospective Cohort Study of People With a History of Injection Drug Use.

Background:  People with a history of injection drug use face discrimination in healthcare settings that may impede their use of routine care, leading to greater reliance on the emergency department (ED) for addressing health concerns. The relationship between discrimination in healthcare settings and subsequent ED utilization has not been established in this population.

Methods:  This analysis used longitudinal data collected between January 2014 and March 2020 from participants of the ALIVE (AIDS Linked to the IntraVenous Experience) study, a community-based observational cohort study of people with a history of injection drug use in Baltimore, Maryland.

First-hand accounts of structural stigma toward people who use opioids on Reddit.

People who use opioids face multilevel stigma that negatively affects their health and well-being and drives opioid-related overdose. Little research has focused on lived experience of the structural levels of stigma toward opioid use. This study identified and qualitatively analyzed Reddit content about structural stigma toward opioid use.

A nationwide mobile phone survey for tobacco use in Tanzania: Sample quality and representativeness compared to a household survey.

We investigated the feasibility of an interactive voice response (IVR) survey in Tanzania and compared its prevalence estimates for tobacco use to the estimates of the 'Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2018'. IVR participants were enrolled by random digit dialing. Quota sampling was employed to achieve the required sample sizes of age-sex strata: sex (male/female) and age (18-29-, 30-44-, 45-59-, and ≥60-year-olds).

Advancing Adolescent and Young Adult HIV Prevention and Care and Treatment Through Use of Multi-level Theories and Frameworks: A Scoping Review and Adapted HIV Ecological Framework.

While multi-level theories and frameworks have become a cornerstone in broader efforts to address HIV inequities, little is known regarding their application in adolescent and young adult (AYA) HIV research. To address this gap, we conducted a scoping review to assess the use and application of multi-level theories and frameworks in AYA HIV prevention and care and treatment empirical research. We systematically searched five databases for articles published between 2010 and May 2020, screened abstracts, and reviewed eligible full-text articles for inclusion.

A Mobile App to Assist the Mentors of African American Young Men Who Have Sex With Men: Usability Study.

Background: Mentoring can promote positive youth development. Owing to social and structural factors, young people in underresourced communities often lack adequate access to mentors, and naturally occurring mentors are more common than formal, programmatic mentors. There is little information on the impact of naturally occurring mentors on youth in general and even less on the role that mentors may play in promoting healthy outcomes in sexual and gender minority youth.

The Appa Health App for Youth Mental Health: Development and Usability Study.

Background: Demand for adolescent mental health services has surged in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, and traditional models of care entailing in-person services with licensed mental health providers are inadequate to meet demand. However, research has shown that with proper training and supervision mentors can work with youth with mental health challenges like depression and anxiety and can even support the use of evidence-based strategies like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). In our increasingly connected world, youth mentors can meet with young people on a web-based platform at their convenience, reducing barriers to care.

Differentiating sex and gender in health research to achieve gender equity.

Effectively tracking progress on initiatives focused on gender equity requires clear differentiation between the terms sex and gender. Sex usually refers to a person's biological characteristics, whereas gender refers to socially constructed roles and norms. Although both terms are often treated as binaries, gender is a spectrum and sex may include intersex individuals.

Preventing substance use among urban, African American youth: The potential of mentor-mentee conversations.

Background: Early adolescence is a critical time for preventing substance use onset. Mentoring can help protect youth via social influence; however, little is currently known about direct mentor-mentee interactions around substance use. To investigate this topic, interviews were conducted with mentors to explore their comfort with, and perceived barriers and facilitators to, discussions about substance use with youth mentees.

Developing digital tools for health surveys in low- and middle-income countries: Comparing findings of two mobile phone surveys with a nationally representative in-person survey in Bangladesh.

Non-communicable disease (NCD) risk factor data from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are inadequate, mostly due to the cost and burden of collecting in-person population-level estimates. High-income countries regularly use phone-based surveys, and with increasing mobile phone subscription in developing countries, mobile phone surveys (MPS) could complement in-person surveys in LMICs. We compared the representativeness and prevalence estimates of two MPS (i.

Improving success of non-communicable diseases mobile phone surveys: Results of two randomized trials testing interviewer gender and message valence in Bangladesh and Uganda.

Introduction: Although interactive voice response (IVR) is a promising mobile phone survey (MPS) method for public health data collection in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), participation rates for this method remain lower than traditional methods. This study tested whether using different introductory messages increases the participation rates of IVR surveys in two LMICs, Bangladesh and Uganda.

Methods: We conducted two randomized, controlled micro-trials using fully-automated random digit dialing to test the impact of (1) the gender of the speaker recording the survey (i.

The role of men in antenatal care and preventing HIV transmission from mothers to infants in Gambella region, Ethiopia.

Prevention of vertical transmission of HIV has evolved over the past two decades. Although public health agencies advocate for male involvement in such interventions, their role in the prevention of vertical transmission of HIV remains limited. This study aims to explore the role of men in antenatal care and prevention of vertical transmission of HIV in the Gambella region of Ethiopia.

Associations Between Implicit and Explicit Condom Use Measures With Condom Use Barriers: Relationships Make A Difference.

Objective: The association between explicit and implicit psychological measures might be affected by the similarity of the assessment method and by the overlap of the components of the constructs being assessed. This study examined the association between condom use barriers and explicit and implicit measurements of condom use and the moderating role of sexual intercourse in these associations.

Design: This was a cross sectional correlational study.

Childhood abuse, left-behind status and mental health among lesbian, gay, and bisexual young adults in China.

Background: Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) young adults are at increased risk of mental distress in China. To better carry out psychological intervention, it is essential to understand unique patterns of mental distress and their association with childhood abuse/neglect, including experiencing being left behind by migrating parents.

Objective: In a sample of Chinese LGB young adults, we examined: (1) associations between childhood abuse and left-behind status and mental distress; (2) latent profiles of mental distress; and (3) associations between childhood abuse and left-behind status and latent profiles of mental distress.

Mental health and HIV risk differs by co-occurring structural vulnerabilities among women who sell sex.

Female sex workers (FSW) experience many structural vulnerabilities (SV; e.g., violence, economic insecurity) which contribute to increased risk of HIV and mental distress.

External resilience in the context of drug use and socio-structural vulnerabilities: a qualitative exploration among women who use drugs and sell sex in Baltimore, Maryland.

Background: Resilience is a commonly used construct in substance use and mental health research. Yet it is often narrowly defined by only its internal qualities (e.g.

Heterosexual Marital Intention: The Influences of Confucianism and Stigma Among Chinese Sexual Minority Women and Men.

In traditional Confucianist culture in China, marriage and offspring are highly valued, placing sexual minority adults under tremendous pressure to marry an opposite sex partner. This study explored how Confucianism and stigma were associated with the intention to pursue a heterosexual marriage among Chinese sexual minority individuals as well as the moderating mechanisms of gender and age. Cross-sectional data were collected from 747 participants via online social networks from March to June 2020.

Applying a gender lens to social norms, couple communication and decision making to increase modern contraceptive use in Ethiopia, a mixed methods study.

Background: Ethiopia, sub-Saharan Africa's second most populous country has seen improvements in women's reproductive health. The study objectives are (1) using mixed methods research, to identify determinants of contraceptive use in four regions of Ethiopia, and (2) to explore the relationship between social norms, gender equitable norms, couple communication and contraceptive use.

Methods: The study includes both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Resilience and Prosocial Behavior Among Chinese University Students During COVID-19 Mitigation: Testing Mediation and Moderation Models of Social Support.

Purpose: Suffering during events such as the COVID-19 pandemic threatens university students' physical and psychological health. Given the literature indicating the protective role of resilience and social support, the current study explored the mediating and moderating roles of social support in the association between resilience and prosocial behavior among university students in mainland China during COVID-19 mitigation.

Methods: We conducted an online survey using convenience sampling from 23rd February to 3rd March 2020 among Chinese university students who had encountered home-quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic.