Using evaluation to enhance a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) social marketing campaign in real time in Los Angeles County, California.

Objective: To describe the application of a formative evaluation conducted concurrently with implementation of a public health social marketing campaign to allow for substantive changes to the campaign messaging to subsequently improve acceptability.

Method: A serial cross-sectional survey was used to evaluate the acceptability of two campaign messages among Black and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender persons (TGP) in Los Angeles County from 2016 to 2018 through an online survey. Theinitial message, which presented the PrEP Protectors, a trio of superheroes embodying the power, knowledge, and protection pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) can provide, was revised based on respondent feedback collected in the survey to increase specificity and clarity.

The utility of evaluation in optimizing implementation and improvement of HIV prevention programming.

The objective of this article is to describe Project PrIDE (PrEP Implementation, Data to Care, and Evaluation) through the lens of Evaluation Utilization and provide examples of how twelve funded health departments (HD) utilized evaluation findings to make decisions related to improving PrEP awareness and uptake, and/or enhancing capacity for data to care (D2C) activities. Each HD conducted a local evaluation (LE) and reported ongoing and planned utilization of evaluation findings in the final LE reports. Information from all reports was abstracted for qualitative analysis to identify main evaluation utilization themes.

Estimated HIV Incidence in California, 2006-2009.

Introduction: Accurate estimates of HIV incidence are crucial for prioritizing, targeting, and evaluating HIV prevention efforts. Using the methodology the CDC used to estimate national HIV incidence, we estimated HIV incidence in Los Angeles County (LAC), San Francisco (SF), and California's remaining counties.

Methods: We estimated new HIV infections in 2006-2009 among adults and adolescents in LAC, SF and the remaining California counties using the Serologic Testing Algorithm for Recent Seroconversion (STARHS).

A placebo-controlled evaluation of adjunctive modafinil in the treatment of bipolar depression.

Objective: Modafinil is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for improving wakefulness in patients with excessive sleepiness associated with narcolepsy, obstructive sleep apnea, and shift-work sleep disorder.

Modal subcomponents of metabolic syndrome in patients with bipolar disorder.

Background: The metabolic syndrome is a growing global public health problem.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence rate and modal subcomponents of the metabolic syndrome in subjects treated at the West Los Angeles Veterans Administration Medical Center Bipolar Clinic.

Methods: In this cross-sectional design study, using the National Cholesterol Education Program definition, metabolic syndrome prevalence rates were calculated.

Reading and interpreting economic evaluations in rheumatoid arthritis: an assessment of selected instruments for critical appraisal.

Objective: To describe and compare the relative attributes (reliability, ease of use, applicability, and relevance) of different assessment tools for economic analyses as they pertain to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) literature.

Methods: An expert panel, comprising rheumatology researchers and clinicians, operationalized 2 economic appraisal instruments and applied them to 11 articles used for analysis. Each expert reviewed 3 articles, with each article independently reviewed by a pair of experts.