A Qualitative Analysis of Beliefs about Masculinity and Gender Socialization among US Mothers and Fathers of School-Age Boys.

Internalization of culturally dominant masculine gender role norms can have harmful impacts on the physical and emotional health of men and boys. Although parents play an important role in influencing gender-related beliefs in their children, limited research has examined how contemporary parents conceptualize masculinity and their role in gender socialization. The current study conducted 13 focus groups with Black, Latino, and White parents ( = 83) of school-age boys from rural and urban areas in a large southeastern state in the US.

Conceptualizing Consent: Cross-national and Temporal Representations of Sexual Consent in Young Africans' Creative Narratives on HIV.

Sexual violence, comprising all non-consensual sexual acts, is an important driver of HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa. Definitions of sexual violence rely on understandings of sexual consent, understood as a feeling of willingness that is communicated via shared indicators of consent. In this paper, through analysis of young authors' narrative-based social representations, we sought to provide insight into young Africans' sense-making around sexual consent in order to develop a conceptual framework that can guide future methodological and conceptual work.

Making sense of fidelity: young Africans' cross-national and longitudinal representations of fidelity and infidelity in their HIV-related creative narratives, 1997-2014.

Mutual fidelity and partner reduction have been identified as key behavioural strategies to prevent HIV transmission in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly following recognition of the role that multiple concurrent sexual partnerships play in driving generalised HIV epidemics. We analysed social representations of fidelity and infidelity in a sample of 1,343 narratives about HIV written by young Africans between 1997 and 2014. The narratives were written at four different time points (1997, 2005, 2008, 2014) by authors aged 10-24 in urban and rural areas of Senegal, Burkina Faso, South-east Nigeria, Kenya and Eswatini.

Temporal and cross-national comparisons of young Africans' HIV-related narratives from five countries, 1997-2014.

Little is known about how young Africans have made sense of the dramatic ways in which the HIV epidemic has evolved, and how that sense-making varies across countries with different epidemiological and sociocultural profiles. Symbolic representations of HIV and people living with HIV influence prevention, stigma, treatment-seeking, and illness experience. We compared social representations of HIV among young people from Senegal, Burkina Faso, Nigeria (South-East), Kenya, and Swaziland between 1997 and 2014.

The spectrum of sexual transaction: representations in young Africans' HIV-themed creative narratives.

Sexual transaction, or any exchange of financial or material goods for sex, contributes to the disproportionate HIV burden among young women aged 15-24 years in sub-Saharan Africa. We analysed representations of sexual transactions in a sample of 363 narratives about HIV written by young Africans. The narratives were written at 4 time points (1997, 2005, 2008, 2014) by authors aged 10-24 years in urban and rural areas of Senegal, Burkina Faso, South-east Nigeria, Kenya and Eswatini, formerly Swaziland.

Social representations of the prevention of heterosexual transmission of HIV among young Africans from five countries, 1997-2014.

HIV prevention has evolved dramatically since the 1990s. The ABC trilogy (abstinence, be faithful, use a condom) has expanded to incorporate a range of biomedical prevention strategies, including voluntary medical male circumcision, pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis, and treatment-as-prevention, and to accommodate structural and combination prevention approaches. This study examines how young Africans from five epidemiologically and socio-culturally diverse countries (Swaziland, Kenya, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Senegal) made sense of the evolving prevention of sexual transmission of HIV between 1997 and 2014.

Social representations of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and its prevention in narratives by young Africans from five countries, 1997-2014: Implications for communication.

International recommendations related to the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV have evolved rapidly over time; recommendations have also varied contextually in line with local constraints and national policies. This study examines how young Africans made sense of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) and PMTCT and related barriers and facilitators between 1997 and 2014 in the context of these complex and changing recommendations. It uses a distinctive data source: 1343 creative narratives submitted to HIV-themed scriptwriting competitions by young people aged 10-24 from 5 African countries (Senegal, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Kenya, and Swaziland) between 1997 and 2014.

Young Africans' social representations of sexual abuse of power in their HIV-related creative narratives, 2005-2014: cultural scripts and applied possibilities.

The sexual abuse of power is a form of sexual coercion in which individuals - typically male - use their positions of authority to obtain sex. We analysed social representations of sexual abuse of power in a sample of 1,446 narratives about HIV written by young Africans between 2005 and 2014. The narratives were prepared at five different points in time (2005, 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2014) by authors aged 10-24 in urban and rural areas of Swaziland, Kenya, South-East Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Senegal.

Enabling Analysis of Big, Thick, Long, and Wide Data: Data Management for the Analysis of a Large Longitudinal and Cross-National Narrative Data Set.

Distinctive longitudinal narrative data, collected during a critical 18-year period in the history of the HIV epidemic, offer a unique opportunity to examine how young Africans are making sense of evolving developments in HIV prevention and treatment. More than 200,000 young people from across sub-Saharan Africa took part in HIV-themed scriptwriting contests held at eight discrete time points between 1997 and 2014, creating more than 75,000 narratives. This article describes the data reduction and management strategies developed for our cross-national and longitudinal study of these qualitative data.

Young Africans' social representations of rape in their HIV-related creative narratives, 2005-2014: Rape myths and alternative narratives.

Sexual violence is both a major human rights issue and an important driver of HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa. While quantitative indicators of sexual violence have evolved to facilitate cross-national comparison and country-level decision making, qualitative findings typically remain constrained to single sites and populations. We analyzed social representations of sexual violence, specifically rape, in a sample of 1446 narratives about HIV written by young Africans between 2005 and 2014.

Transforming narratives into educational tools: the collaborative development of a transformative learning tool based on Nicaraguan adolescents' creative writing about intimate partner violence.

The use of narrative has become increasingly popular in the public health, community development, and education fields. Via emotionally engaging plotlines with authentic, captivating characters, stories provide an opportunity for participants to be carried away imaginatively into the characters' world while connecting the story with their own lived experiences. Stories have been highlighted as valuable tools in transformative learning.

Cultural scripts surrounding young people's sexual and romantic relationships in the Western Highlands of Guatemala.

Guatemala has one of the world's highest teenage pregnancy rates and 92% of young people report not using contraception for first sex. We conducted narrative-based thematic analysis of a sample of narratives (n = 40; 15 male-authored, 25 female-authored) on HIV and sexuality, submitted to a 2013 scriptwriting competition by young people aged 15-19 years from Guatemala's Western Highlands. Our objective was to identify dominant cultural scripts and narratives that deviated positively from that norm with a view to informing the development of educational curricula and communication materials promoting youth sexual and reproductive health.