HIV Testing and Mistaken Beliefs about Immigration Laws.

Evidence suggests that migrants may underutilize USA health care because of misconceptions about immigration-related consequences of health care use. This study aimed to explore whether common misconceptions about the immigration consequences of seeking health care, receiving an HIV test, and being diagnosed with HIV were associated with participant self-report of never having received an HIV test. The study sample comprised 297 adult, sexually active, documented and undocumented Spanish-speaking Latino migrants.

Patient acceptability of receiving short message services from an HIV patient-centered medical home.

Patient-centered medical homes (PCMH) are a key component in addressing the comprehensive physical and psychosocial needs of persons living with HIV. The AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin (ARCW) is a PCMH that has become a nationally recognized leader in addressing barriers to HIV retention in care. Recently, ARCW has become interested in the use of short message services (SMS), as SMS have been found to have positive impacts on treatment adherence, CD4 counts, viral load, and appointment attendance.

"I don't have to do this all by myself": Systems Navigation to Ensure Continuity of HIV Care for Persons Leaving Prison.

Ensuring continuity of and retention in care after release from prison is critical for optimizing health outcomes among people living with HIV. As part of a large federal initiative, we conducted qualitative interviews (n = 24) with individuals living with HIV and recently released from prison in four states to understand their experiences in different navigation interventions to improve access to HIV care post-release. Interventions were delivered only in prison, only in the community, or in both settings.

The Development and Psychometric Properties of the Immigration Law Concerns Scale (ILCS) for HIV Testing.

To develop, pilot test, and conduct psychometric analyses of an innovative scale measuring the influence of perceived immigration laws on Latino migrants' HIV-testing behavior. The Immigration Law Concerns Scale (ILCS) was developed in three phases: Phase 1 involved a review of law and literature, generation of scale items, consultation with project advisors, and subsequent revision of the scale. Phase 2 involved systematic translation- back translation and consensus-based editorial processes conducted by members of a bilingual and multi-national study team.

Fostering a "Feeling of Worth" Among Vulnerable HIV Populations: The Role of Linkage to Care Specialists.

To address barriers to adequate engagement in medical care among people living with HIV, Wisconsin's AIDS/HIV Program created a new position, the Linkage to Care (LTC) Specialist. Specialists provide intensive, short-term case management and patient navigation services for small caseloads of individuals at high risk of disengaging with medical care. Clients are eligible if they are newly diagnosed with HIV or new to medical care, recently released from incarceration, recently out of care, nonadherent to scheduled medical care visits, or have detectable viral load while in care.

Acceptability of HIV Prevention Information Delivered Through Established Geosocial Networking Mobile Applications to Men Who Have Sex With Men.

Geosocial networking (GSN) applications could disseminate HIV prevention information to thousands of men who have sex with men (MSM); however, acceptability of the type of information, methods, and frequency of information delivery are unknown. Acceptability of these constructs were assessed through a survey of 224 MSM at the Milwaukee Pridefest. All types of information were found acceptable.

Convention Versus Deviance: Moral Agency in Adolescent Gang Members' Decision Making.

Background: Adolescent gang members are a source of concern due to their involvement in criminal activity, violence, substance use, and high-risk sexual behaviors. Adolescent gang theories hypothesize that social institutions, including the family and school, fail to meet the needs of adolescents who therefore feel less attachment to these institutions and find an unconventional institution (i.e.

"She makes me feel that I'm not alone": linkage to Care Specialists provide social support to people living with HIV.

Wisconsin's Linkage to Care intervention incorporates elements of individually tailored patient navigation and case management designed to increase linkage and retention in HIV-related medical care. It is delivered by Linkage to Care Specialists in HIV medical clinics and community-based agencies. Researchers interviewed a diverse sample of clients to conduct preliminary evaluation of the pilot phase of this intervention.

Risks and benefits of text message-delivered and small group-delivered sexual health interventions among African American women in the Midwestern U.S.

Interventions to decrease acquisition and transmission of sexually transmitted diseases among African American women using text messages versus small group delivery modalities pose distinct research risks and benefits. Determining the relative risk-benefit ratio of studies using these different modalities has relied on the expertise of investigators and their institutional review boards. In this study, African American women participated in focus groups and surveys to elicit and compare risks and benefits inherent in these two intervention delivery modalities, focusing on issues such as convenience, privacy, and stigma of participation.

Social Media Use and High-Risk Sexual Behavior Among Black Men Who Have Sex with Men: A Three-City Study.

Black men who have sex with men (MSM) bear a disproportionate burden of human immunodeficiency (HIV) incidence in the United States. Little research has focused on the associations between social media use and sexual behavior among Black MSM. 205 Black MSM completed measures assessing social media use and sexual behaviors.

Text messaging for sexual communication and safety among African American young adults.

African American young adults are at high risk of HIV infection during their lifetimes, and the male condom remains the best method of prevention. Efforts to increase condom use should address the barrier of condom negotiation. We conducted a thematic analysis of qualitative, semistructured interviews with African American young adults to examine their use of text messaging for requesting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing and condom use within the larger context of general sexual communication using text messages.

An expanded model of the temporal stability of condom use intentions: gender-specific predictors among high-risk adolescents.

Background: Adolescents involved with the criminal justice system are at particularly high-risk for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and sexually transmitted infections.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to longitudinally examine gender-specific models of condom use, incorporating temporal stability of intentions.

Methods: Adolescents on probation (N=728) were recruited to complete longitudinal surveys including measures of Theory of Planned Behavior and gender-specific constructs, relationship length, and condom use.

'It's Not What You Said, It's How You Said It': Perceptions of Condom Proposers by Gender and Strategy.

We examined effects of proposer gender and condom negotiation strategy on perceptions of condom proposers in undergraduates in the southwestern regions of the US. Using a video manipulation (N=150), a female proposer was evaluated no more harshly than a male proposer, and was evaluated more positively in some ways. In a vignette manipulation (N=193) a female proposer using an Eroticization negotiation strategy (compared to Refusal of sex or Explanation of consequences) was seen as more exciting and likely to engage in sex.

HIV risk reduction among detained adolescents: a randomized, controlled trial.

Objectives: Criminally involved adolescents engage in high levels of alcohol-related risky sex. A theory-based sexual and alcohol risk-reduction intervention was designed, implemented, and evaluated in juvenile detention facilities.

Participants And Methods: In a randomized, controlled trial, 484 detained adolescents received 1 of 3 group-based interventions: combined sexual and alcohol risk reduction (group psychosocial intervention [GPI] + group motivational enhancement therapy [GMET]); sexual risk reduction only (GPI); or HIV/sexually transmitted disease prevention information only (group information-only intervention [GINFO]).

Randomized trial of group interventions to reduce HIV/STD risk and change theoretical mediators among detained adolescents.

Criminally involved adolescents engage in high levels of risky sexual behavior and alcohol use, and alcohol use may contribute to lack of condom use. Detained adolescents (n = 484) were randomized to (1) a theory-based sexual risk reduction intervention (GPI), (2) the GPI condition with a group-based alcohol risk reduction motivational enhancement therapy component (GPI + GMET), or (3) an information-only control (INFO). All interventions were presented in same-sex groups in single sessions lasting from 2 to 4 hr.

Consistent condom use among juvenile detainees: the role of individual differences, social bonding, and health beliefs.

This study takes the perspective that condom use may be a non-continuous variable, and that the endpoint of consistent condom use is an important focus of study both in terms of public health considerations and theoretically. As consistent condom use is the ultimate goal for prevention of the spread of HIV and STDs among those who are sexually active, special attention needs to be paid to those who have accomplished that goal, especially among high-risk populations. Guided by theories of resiliency, and using consistent condom use as a marker of the broader sexual health resiliency construct, condom promotive factors are used to predict consistent condom use among detained adolescents.

Mediational analysis in HIV/AIDS research: estimating multivariate path analytic models in a structural equation modeling framework.

Mediational analyses have been recognized as useful in answering two broad questions that arise in HIV/AIDS research, those of theoretical model testing and of the effectiveness of multicomponent interventions. This article serves as a primer for those wishing to use mediation techniques in their own research, with a specific focus on mediation applied in the context of path analysis within a structural equation modeling (SEM) framework. Mediational analyses and the SEM framework are reviewed at a general level, followed by a discussion of the techniques as applied to complex research designs, such as models with multiple mediators, multilevel or longitudinal data, categorical outcomes, and problematic data (e.

Condom use among South African adolescents: developing and testing theoretical models of intentions and behavior.

We developed and tested models of intentions and behavior among adolescents from Cape Town, South Africa. Data from 261 participants who completed an initial measure of attitudes, beliefs, and prior behavior were used to develop a model of intentions to use condoms based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and additional constructs found to be important in previous research with adolescents. Of the initial sample, 227 (87%) completed a behavioral follow-up 4 months later, and approximately one-third of those (n=72; 44 boys and 30 girls) reported having had sex in the prior 4 months.