Developing Guidelines for Conducting Stigma Research With Transgender and Nonbinary Individuals: Protocol for Creation of a Trauma-Informed Approach to Research.

Background: Transgender and nonbinary individuals have received increasing attention within HIV research, with studies documenting the pervasive role stigma plays in creating and sustaining health inequities. However, the proliferation of HIV stigma research with this population has also raised concerns about research practices that may unintentionally stigmatize or retraumatize the very communities they are designed to benefit. Conducting stigma research is critical for generating accurate information about HIV epidemiology, risk and protective factors, and intervention strategies for transgender and nonbinary individuals.

A protocol for a randomized controlled trial of couples motivational interviewing to reduce drug use and HIV transmission risk among male couples in the US: the Couples Health Project.

Background: To reduce substance use and sexual HIV transmission risk among sexual minority men (SMM) requires the development of interventions tailored for those in relationships. In the past 5 years, there have been considerable advances in the development of motivational nterviewing (MI) with couples. The Couples Health Project (CHP) is the first multi-session risk reduction protocol built on this formative research.

Clients' perceptions of motivational interviewing with couples: A qualitative examination of male couples' statements to counselors in session.

The past two decades have seen expanding interest in the application of Motivational Interviewing (MI) with couples. Thus far, literature detailing the development of MI with couples has focused primarily on elucidating counseling processes and techniques or on evaluating intervention effects. To date no published studies have examined client-perceptions of the counseling process in MI with couples.

Mechanisms of Successful Implementation of Tailored Motivational Interviewing in a Multisite Study of Youth HIV Clinics in the United States.

Background: A recent implementation science stepped-wedge trial of motivational interviewing (MI) in adolescent HIV clinics indicated variable degrees of implementation success. The present mixed-methods study analyzed trajectories of postimplementation MI competence scores and compared postimplementation qualitative interviews among the clinics with the highest levels of provider competency and the lowest levels of competency to further understand mechanisms of successful implementation.

Setting: Ten HIV clinics in the Adolescent Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions.

Correlates of Mpox Vaccination among Sexual Minority Men in the United States: Sexual Behavior, Substance Use, and Main Partner Relationships.

Sexual minority men (SMM) have accounted for the majority of infections during the 2022 outbreak of the orthopox virus known as mpox (previously "monkeypox") in the US. This study examined correlates of mpox vaccination. Between July 28 and September 22, 2022, adult cisgender SMM ( = 2,620) not previously diagnosed with mpox responded to recruitment advertisements on social networking applications and completed an online survey.

Implementation of empowerment self-defense programming in a university counseling center: An effective sexual violence prevention delivery model.

Empowerment Self-Defense (ESD) is a sexual violence prevention approach backed by rigorous empirical research, yet its availability on college campuses is limited. This manuscript evaluates the feasibility and efficacy of an ESD program embedded within a university counseling center. Participants completed an 8-session ESD intervention and group counseling program.

A full-factorial randomized controlled trial of adjunct couples HIV testing and counseling components addressing drug use and communication skills among sexual minority male couples.

Background: The past decade has seen increasing attention directed to the development of HIV prevention interventions for male couples, driven by epidemiological data indicating that main or primary - rather than causal - partnerships account for a substantial number of HIV infections in this population. Couples HIV testing and counseling (CHTC) has emerged as a standard of care in the US. This protocol describes a study that aims to evaluate the efficacy of two adjunct components to CHTC - communication training (CT) videos and a substance use module (SUM) - to reduce drug use and sexual HIV transmission risk behavior.

Keeps me awake at night: The potential of the COVID-19 pandemic to affect sleep quality among sexual minority men in the U.S.A.

Sleep health, a crucial component and predictor of physical and mental health, has likely been adversely impacted by the stress and disruption wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. This brief report sought to assess self-reported sleep quality among sexual minority men across the U.S.

Effectiveness of a Combined Motivational Interviewing and Cognitive Behavioral Intervention to Reduce Substance Use and Improve HIV-Related Immune Functioning.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of Project PLUS, a 6-session Motivational Interviewing and Cognitive Behavioral intervention to reduce substance use and improve antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence among PLWH. In a quasi-experimental design, 84 participants from a network of three comprehensive care clinics in New York City received the intervention immediately post-baseline (the Immediate condition) and 90 were assigned to a Waitlist control. Viral load and CD4 data were extracted from electronic medical records (EMR) for a No-Intervention comparison cohort (n = 120).

Sexual Shame and Emotion Dysregulation: Key Roles in the Association between Internalized Homonegativity and Sexual Compulsivity.

Sexual minority men (SMM) are at increased risk for mental health problems due to effects of sexual minority stigma (e.g., internalized homonegativity (IH)).

Pilot Randomized Trial of an Expressive Writing Intervention to Reduce Sexual HIV-Transmission Risk and Substance Use Among Emerging Adult Gay and Bisexual Men.

This pilot randomized controlled trial evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of expressive writing to reduce HIV-related sexual risk taking and symptoms of drug dependence among emerging adult gay and bisexual men (EAGBM) through linguistic mechanisms involving use of words associated with cognitive processing (e.g., think, cause), positive emotion (e.

Applications of Fluorous Porphyrinoids: An Update.

Porphyrins and related macrocycles have been studied broadly for their applications in medicine and materials because of their tunable physicochemical, optoelectronic and magnetic properties. In this review article, we focused on the applications of fluorinated porphyrinoids and their supramolecular systems and summarized the reports published on these chromophores in the past 5-6 years. The commercially available fluorinated porphyrinoids: meso-perfluorophenylporphyrin (TPPF ) perfluorophthalocyanine (PcF ) and meso-perfluorophenylcorrole (CorF ) have increased photo and oxidative stability due to the presence of fluoro groups.

Examining inequities in rates of undiagnosed HIV and rectal STIs in a large nationwide cohort study of sexual minority men.

Objective: Sexual minority men (SMM) of colour are disproportionately impacted by HIV and bacterial STIs (bSTIs). To better understand within-group heterogeneity and differential risk factors by race and ethnicity, we sought to examine rates of undiagnosed HIV and rectal bSTI at the intersection of racial and ethnic identity with other sociodemographic factors.

Methods: We examined data from 8105 SMM conducting home-based self-testing at enrolment in a nationwide cohort study collected from November 2017 to August 2018.

Partners' Consensus About Joint Effort and COVID-19 Prevention Among Sexual Minority Men.

The current study examined the relevance of relationship functioning to partners' agreement or consensus about joint effort surrounding COVID-19 prevention. Interdependence theory has been widely used to understand how relationship partners influence health behavior, including how sexual minority male (SMM) couples regulate HIV risk. Couples with better relationship functioning tend to be more successful at negotiating joint (shared) goals and subsequently accomplishing them.

The importance of domain-specific self-efficacy assessment for substance use and HIV care continuum outcomes among adults in an urban HIV clinic network.

Despite the prominence of self-efficacy as a predictor of antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence, relatively little work has examined domain-specific associations with steps in the care continuum or the possibility that substance use may have domain-specific associations with self-efficacy. This study analyzed data from a sample of 174 people living with HIV recruited through three clinics in the New York City metro area. Consistent with hypotheses, path analysis showed that appointments kept and viral load were each predicted only by their respective domain-specific self-efficacy components (i.

Elevated diversity in loci linked to facial morphology is consistent with the hypothesis that individual facial recognition is important across hominoids.

Objectives: The ability to use visual signals to identify individuals is an important feature of primate social groups, including humans. Sheehan and Nachman (2014) showed that loci linked to facial morphology had elevated levels of diversity and interpreted this as evidence that the human face is under frequency-dependent selection to enhance individual recognition (Nature Communications 5). In our study, we tested whether this pattern is found in non-human ape species, to help understand whether individual recognition might also play a role in species other than humans.

Healthy Choices Intervention is Associated with Reductions in Stigma Among Youth Living with HIV in the United States (ATN 129).

Considering the lack of validated stigma reduction interventions for youth living with HIV (YLWH), we evaluated effects of the Healthy Choices intervention on HIV-related stigma among YLWH. We analyzed data from the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network protocol 129, multi-site randomized controlled trial, applying latent growth curve modeling with two linear slopes estimating changes in Berger's Stigma Scale pre-intervention, 16, 28, and 52 weeks post-intervention, as well as the trajectory of stigma scores over the follow-up period (N = 183). Expected value for the growth intercept was statistically significant (B = 2.

Treatment Is More Than Prevention: Perceived Personal and Social Benefits of Messaging Among Sexual Minority Men Living with HIV.

Research suggests that the science of undetectable viral load (VL) status and HIV transmission-conveyed with the slogan "" or "U = U"-has gaps in acceptance despite robust scientific evidence. Nonetheless, growing acceptance of U = U creates conditions for a shift in the sociopolitical and personal implications of viral suppression. We conducted an online survey over a 23-month period in 2018 and 2019 among 30,361 adolescent and adult (aged 13-99) sexual minority men living with HIV (SMM-LHIV) across the United States.

Evaluating the impact of COVID-19: A cohort comparison study of drug use and risky sexual behavior among sexual minority men in the U.S.A.

Background: Sexual minority men who use drugs have high sexual HIV transmission risk. Sexual interactions may also increase COVID-19 risk.This study compared marijuana use, other illegal drugs use (i.

Evaluation of a Stepped-Care eHealth HIV Prevention Program for Diverse Adolescent Men Who Have Sex With Men: Protocol for a Hybrid Type 1 Effectiveness Implementation Trial of SMART.

Background: Adolescent men who have sex with men (AMSM), aged 13 to 18 years, account for more than 80% of teen HIV occurrences. Despite this disproportionate burden, there is a conspicuous lack of evidence-based HIV prevention programs. Implementation issues are critical as traditional HIV prevention delivery channels (eg, community-based organizations, schools) have significant access limitations for AMSM.

The Mediating Role of Psychological Distress in the Association between Harassment and Alcohol Use among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Military Personnel.

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating role of psychological distress on the associations between two forms of harassment, military sexual trauma (MST) and sexual orientation-based discrimination (SOBD), and alcohol use in a sample of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) military personnel. Data were analyzed from 254 LGB military service members in the United States. Bivariate associations were examined between MST, SOBD, anxiety and depression, distress in response to stressful military events, and alcohol use.

Sociodemographic and behavioural factors associated with testing for HIV and STIs in a US nationwide sample of transgender men who have sex with men.

Objectives: Transgender men who have sex with men (TMSM) represent an understudied population in relation to screening for HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). We examined HIV and STI testing prevalence among TMSM along with the factors associated with testing in a diverse US nationwide sample of TMSM.

Methods: Data from a cross-sectional online convenience sample of 192 TMSM were analysed using multivariable binary logistic regression models to examine the association between sociodemographic and behavioural factors and lifetime testing for HIV, bacterial STIs and viral STIs, as well as past year testing for HIV.