Promise and deceit: pharmakos, drug replacement therapy, and the perils of experience.

The problem of lying as a feature of medication compliance has been well documented in anthropological and clinical literatures. Yet the role of the lie-its destabilizing effects on the continuity of drug treatment and therapy, as a technology of drug misuse, or as a way to understand the neuro-chemical processes of treatment (pharmacotherapy "tricking" or lying to the brain)-has been less considered, particularly in the context of opioid replacement therapy. The following paper is set against the backdrop of a three-year study of adolescents receiving a relatively new drug (buprenorphine) for the treatment of opiate dependency inside and outside of highly monitored treatment environments in the United States.

A turn towards dying: presence, signature, and the social course of chronic illness in urban America.

This article examines an account of chronic illness and traces the narrative as it turns towards dying. Based on two years of ethnographic work with one household in Baltimore, MD, the article illustrates the complex institutional transactions performed by the poor in the urban United States. The ethnography follows the contours of these transactions as they take shape between biomedical and domestic spheres, considering the way in which the management of illness reconstitutes social arrangements.

Psychosocial factors influencing the disclosure of sexually transmissible infection diagnoses among female adolescents.

Background: Individuals diagnosed with a sexually transmissible infection (STI) often face psychosocial concerns through which they must navigate to arrive at disclosure decisions. The objective of this study was to qualitatively explore the decision-making process for disclosure of STI diagnoses to sex partners among adolescent females in Baltimore City, MD.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 African American adolescent females who tested positive for chlamydia and/or gonorrhoea in the previous 3 months.

The clinic and elsewhere: illness, sexuality, and social experience among young African American men in Baltimore, Maryland.

This paper is concerned with how disclosure becomes self-production for young adults within the setting of the sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic. The STD clinic is a special medical environment where the process of disclosure is not just a way of accessing treatment; it is also a process through which illness, sexuality, and social experience become entangled in telling. Illness according to medical categories is reshaped in the social world, bringing a different set of criteria to bear on the definition of illness.

Perceived social cohesion and prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases.

Background: Although physical attributes have been shown to be associated with sexually transmitted disease (SD) rates, there is little information about the association between social attributes and STD rates.

Goal: The objective of this study was to determine the association between gonorrhea prevalence and perceptions of social cohesion in impoverished, urban neighborhoods.

Study Design: We conducted a street-based survey of 18- to 24-year-olds residing in selected census block groups in Baltimore City, Maryland.

Physical activity attitudes of African American and white adolescent girls.

Background: Understanding the attitudes of African American adolescent girls toward physical activity may help identify strategies to enable these adolescents to adopt a more physically active lifestyle that could track into adulthood.

Objective: To identify and compare attitudes of African American adolescent girls toward physical activity with the attitudes of white adolescent girls.

Methods: Six focus groups (N = 49) were conducted with 9th- through 12th-grade African American and white adolescent girls.