HIV Risk Behavior and Prevention Considerations Among Military Personnel in Three Caribbean Region Countries: Belize, Barbados, and the Dominican Republic.

Background: We review research findings and the limitations of recent qualitative and quantitative studies of HIV prevalence and risk behaviors in military populations in three Caribbean countries (Dominican Republic, Belize, and Barbados).

Methods: This research shows how mental health issues, disordered substance use, and structuring aspects of the occupational field produce and reproduce patterns of risk behaviors.

Results: We discuss the use of formative research, the Positive Health, Dignity, and Prevention framework, and the use of implementation science (including research methods that employ alternative methodological assumptions to better elucidate both cultural nuances and unknown components of program impact in different military populations) as a means to tailor individual prevention strategies to military populations.

Alcohol Use and HIV Prevention Among Personnel in the Belize Defence Force.

To evaluate the effect of a peer-based risk reduction project on alcohol use and sexual behavior within Belize Defence Force personnel. We used a quasi-experimental, mixed quantitative and qualitative methods design to evaluate project outcomes. Two serial cross-sectional surveys were conducted [baseline (n = 126) and 6-month follow-up (n = 128)] using computer assisted self-interview.

North Carolina Medicaid recipient management lock-in program: the pharmacist's perspective.

Background: The misuse and abuse of prescription opioids have become an urgent health issue in North Carolina (NC), particularly among Medicaid patients who suffer high rates of morbidity and mortality due to abuse and overdose. The NC Division of Medical Assistance (DMA) implemented a recipient management lock-in program, which limits identified patients for a 12-month period to 1 prescriber and 1 pharmacy for benzodiazepine, opiate, and certain anxiolytic prescriptions in order to prevent misuse and reduce overutilization of Medicaid benefits. 

Objectives: To (a) evaluate pharmacists' perceptions of the implementation of the NC recipient management lock-in program (MLIP) and (b) determine how the beliefs and attitudes of pharmacists could promote or inhibit its success.

Contraceptive continuation in Hispanic women.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of Hispanic ethnicity on the continuation and satisfaction of reversible contraceptive methods.

Study Design: We analyzed 12 months of data that were collected from 7913 participants in the Contraceptive CHOICE Project. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to estimate continuation, and Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate the risk of discontinuation.