The birds and the bees: do Puerto Rican mothers and daughters talk about sex?

Introduction: Effective communication skills that foster responsible sexual decisions are known to have the potential to reduce the risky adolescent sexual behavior. It is well understood that maternal communication is a key element in modifying the adolescent sexual behavior. The objective of this qualitative study was to explore if Puerto Rican mothers of adolescent girls have conversations about sexuality with their daughters and the content of such conversations.

Implementing a Randomized Controlled Trial through a Community-Academia Partnered Participatory Research: Arte con Salud Research-Informed Intervention.

Objective: "Arte con Salud" is an HIV/AIDS prevention intervention tailored for Puerto Rican women who have sex with men. The intervention curriculum was refined through a community-academic collaboration between Taller Salud, the UPRCayey Campus, and the UCC-School of Medicine, subsided in 2012-13 by PRCTRC. The collaboration has been crucial to validate the impact of using art as a tool to facilitate sexual negotiation skills and safer sexual practices among adult women have sex with men participating in HIV prevention education.

Impact of ASUMA Intervention on HIV Risk Behaviors among Puerto Rican Adolescents.

The purpose of this manuscript is to assess and compare HIV risk behaviors among early adolescents after a three-year pilot study. A total of 135 public and private junior high schools students completed the intervention protocol. A self-administered questionnaire was given at baseline and at the end of the third year (fourth measure).

Gender differences in social and developmental factors affecting Puerto Rican adolescents during the early stage.

Background: Adolescence is associated with risky behaviors related with social and developmental factors. Objectives were to describe social and developmental factors affecting Puerto Rican early adolescent by gender and type of school at study entry.

Methods: Cross-sectional study design.

Recruitment of HIV positive and negative women in Puerto Rico: the experiences of a research team.

Background: Women with HIV positive status are considered a hard to reach population by many. We discuss the experiences of a research team while conducting the recruiting process with both Hispanic Puerto Rican HIV positive and HIV negative populations.

Objective: To provide strategies and recommendations for conducting research interventions with HIV+ and HIV- women.

Mothers of adolescent girls: comparing HIV positive and HIV negative women.

Background: HIV+ mothers of adolescent girls can serve as agents of change, particularly when it comes to preventing patterns of behaviors that are inherently dangerous. In order to do so these women need to be able to communicate with their daughters and educate them about risk behaviors, especially those associated with HIV acquisition. The objective is to describe the sociodemographic and risk profile in a sample of mothers of adolescent girls who are HIV+ or HIV negative and analyze differences between them.

Do parents know about the adverse effects of passive smoking and the relationship with respiratory illness on their children?

Unlabelled: Recent studies still show parental smoke as the number one environmental exposure agent causing asthma in pediatric population.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the knowledge of parents about the adverse effects of passive smoking and the prevalence of passive smoking in children.

Design: Cross sectional study, participants were caregivers of students from first to sixth grade (three private and two public schools) who answered a self-administered survey.