Predictors of willingness to participate in HIV vaccine trials among African Americans

African Americans in the United States (U.S.) are disproportionately affected by HIV. Developing an HIV vaccine is an important part of the HIV prevention and treatment toolkit and may help contribute to ending the HIV epidemic. To date, HIV vaccine trials have not engaged representative numbers of African Americans. We evaluated the willingness of African Americans to participate in HIV vaccine trials and identified correlates of willingness to participate (WTP) by surveying African Americans at low- and high-risk of HIV infection in a multi-site, cross-sectional study. We enrolled 1,452 participants; 59% heterosexual women; 21% heterosexual men; 20% men who have sex with men (MSM). Over half of participants (58%) expressed some level of WTP in HIV vaccine trials. Multivariable analyses revealed several variables were positively related to WTP: HIV risk behavior, knowing someone with HIV/AIDS, social support for trial participation, high perception of risk, perceived protection if in a trial, altruism, and greater tolerance for the ambiguous nature of trials (p\u3c0.01). Emphasis on contextual factors related to personal HIV experiences, including knowledge of someone with HIV, and community support for research, may provide effective strategies for engaging African Americans in future HIV vaccine trials

Development of a Health Behavior Intervention for Adults with PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), is a disorder of extreme stress/anxiety responses to a psychologically traumatic experience, has been associated with significantly greater incidence of heart disease and prevalence of metabolic syndrome. This higher risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in PTSD appears to be, in part, due to difficulties maintaining healthy lifestyles (e.g., weight management through healthy diet and regular physical activity, adequate sleep) and coping with daily stressors. The need for developing effective CVD prevention programs for adults with PTSD is increasingly evident. Therefore additional research is needed to examine programs that may reduce health risk behaviours and prevent early onset of CVD. The present project is a pilot study to examine whether a treatment program focused on healthy lifestyle behaviours (physical activity, good nutrition, sleep hygiene) and stress management will be associated with reductions in the levels of CVD risk variables (e.g., body weight, lipids, blood pressure) for adults with chronic PTSD and least one of the targeted health risks.This presentation illustrates the development of the intervention program, and the design of the study measurement. Results of preliminary cases will assist in determining whether targeting health behaviours as a novel component of PTSD treatment aids in reducing CVD risk

EVALUATION OF A BRIEF QUESTIONNAIRE FOR ASSESSING BARRIERS TO RESEARCH PARTICIPATION

Racial minority groups are often underrepresented in biobehavioral research. Mistrust stemming from historic abuses of minority research participants is one explanation for this problem. Although mistrust and other variables affect dispositions toward research, brief, quantitative measures of these factors have not been available to researchers in assessing potential recruitment barriers. The present paper is a description and psychometric examination of the Barriers to Research Participation Questionnaire (BRPQ), a new survey designed to assess five factors that affect research participation (religious beliefs, mistrust, health-related fears/beliefs, role overload/ time demands, and perceived personal and community benefits). Good model-fit for the proposed five-factor structure and good testretest reliability were observed among African American undergraduate men and women at an urban, primarily African American university. The BRPQ appears to be a reliable and valid tool for researchers to use in identifying barriers to recruiting African American participants

Towards a Better Understanding of PTSD/Hypertension Associations: Examining Sociodemographic Aspects

The present study is an examination of sociodemographic and environmental correlates of hypertension and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with the goal of better understanding previously identified PTSD and hypertension associations. Data from 5877 adults up to age 54 were analyzed to examine racial and ethnic differences in hypertension, and relationships of socioeconomic status (SES; total family income), employment status, and marital status, and urbanicity (urban, suburban, or rural habitation) with hypertension and PTSD. Next, a total model was tested to determine which sociodemographic and environmental variables, and/or PTSD were significant independent correlates of hypertension. Higher rates of hypertension were evident among African Americans (13.8%), relative to Caucasian (7.7%) or Hispanic (6.7%) participants (p \u3c 0.001). Low SES (family income under USD 19,000) and unemployment were associated with significantly greater likelihood (p \u3c 0.001) of hypertension (9.8% vs. 7.6% for low SES; 14.3% vs. 8.3% for unemployment) and PTSD (16.6% vs. 8.7% for low SES; 21.3% vs. 9.6% for unemployment). Participants who were married versus those separated or divorced were significantly less likely (p \u3c 0.001) to have hypertension (9.0% vs. 11.9%) or PTSD (10.8% vs. 18.3%). Urbanicity was not significantly associated with hypertension or PTSD. Unemployment and PTSD were the only significant independent factors associated with hypertension

Body Mass Index in Relation to Cardiovascular Recovery from Psychological Stress among Trauma-Exposed Women

Delayed cardiovascular recovery has been associated with greater heart disease risks. However, relative to stress reactivity, cardiovascular recovery has been understudied. Further, few studies have examined associations of recovery with modifiable factors that might inform efforts to enhance recovery. The focus of the present study was whether body mass index (BMI) was associated with recovery following two stress tasks (speech and mental arithmetic). Based on the conceptualization that obesity may lead to impaired post-stress recovery, we also examined whether higher BMI accounted for previously reported associations between elevated PTSD symptoms and delayed recovery. The sample consisted of 50 trauma-exposed civilian women ages 19-49 (M±SD = 30 ± 8). The stress tasks were followed by 15-min post-task rest periods. Cardiovascular recovery was assessed as percentage return to baseline; the recovery measures consisted of heart rate (HR), cardiac output (CO), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). PTSD severity was based on structured interview. Higher BMI was associated with significantly less CO recovery from the speech task and less HR recovery from mental arithmetic. Higher BMI was associated with more SBP recovery from the math task, but was not associated with DBP recovery. The indirect effects of BMI in the PTSD/CO recovery relationship based on the Sobel test of mediation were significant. These results partially support the hypotheses that BMI is associated with cardiovascular recovery and that associations of PTSD with recovery may be mediated by BMI