A preliminary randomized controlled trial of a distress tolerance treatment for opioid dependent persons initiating buprenorphine.

Background: Buprenorphine opioid agonist treatment (OAT) has established efficacy for treating opioid dependency but early relapse rates are high and are often associated with withdrawal-related or emotional distress.

Methods: To determine whether a novel distress tolerance (DT) intervention during buprenorphine initiation decreases opioid relapse, we conducted a preliminary randomized controlled trial with opioid-dependent outpatients. Participants received buprenorphine-naloxone induction and 3-months of maintenance buprenorphine plus seven, 50-min manualized, individual sessions (DT vs.

Family Sources of Sexual Health Information, Primary Messages, and Sexual Behavior of At-Risk, Urban Adolescents.

Background: Sources of sexual health information exert strong influence on adolescents' sexual behavior.

Purpose: The current study was undertaken to understand how family serve as sexual information sources, the messages adolescents recall from family, and how family learning experiences affect sexual behavior among at-risk adolescents.

Methods: Individual interviews were conducted with 69 teens, ages 15-18 years, from an alternative high school and a juvenile correctional facility to capture adolescents' early sexual health learning experiences involving family and evaluate their association with teens' recent sexual behavior.

A telephone-based intervention for depression in HIV patients: negative results from a randomized clinical trial.

To determine if a telephone support behavioral intervention improves depressive symptoms among HIV positive outpatients, we enrolled 177 persons with Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores scores of >/=10. Participants were randomized to receive up to 12 scheduled psycho-educational calls over 6 months or to an assessment-only control condition. Co-enrolled informal caregivers of HIV patients received the same telephone intervention in parallel.

Caregiver burden and depression among informal caregivers of HIV-infected individuals.

Background: Few studies have examined the factors associated with depression in informal caregivers of HIV-infected persons.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between depression and caregiver burden among informal caregivers of HIV-infected individuals.

Design: Cross-sectional study using baseline data from an ongoing randomized trial of a supportive telephone intervention.