A door to HIV-prevention interventions: How female-targeted materials can enhance female participation

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of gender on exposure to gender-tailored HIV-prevention brochures. During an unobtrusive observation of participants' reading of brochures, both men and women were likely to avoid gender-mismatched brochures. However, women were more likely to selectively approach gender-matched brochures over gender-neutral brochures than were men. Furthermore, exposure to the female-targeted brochure predicted accepting an HIV-prevention video. This pattern was only the case for females and not for males or for the male-targeted brochure. This finding implies that the gender-tailored brochures are more useful for women than for men, and may open the door to other materials designed with preventive objectives

The longitudinal impact of HIV+ parents' drug use on their adolescent children.

The impact of parental substance use on the emotional and behavioral adjustment of their adolescent children was examined over five years. A representative sample of 220 parents with HIV (PWH) and 330 adolescent children in New York City were repeatedly assessed. Some parents never used marijuana or hard drugs over the 5 years (nonusers). Among those who were users, substance use varied over time. PWH who used substances during a specific 3-month period were classified as active users and those who abstained from substance use were classified as inactive users. Longitudinal regression analyses were used to analyze the impact of variations in patterns of substance use over time on their adolescent children's emotional adjustment and behavioral problems. PWH relapse exacerbated adolescent substance use, trouble with peers, and adolescent emotional distress. Even time-limited reductions in parents' substance abuse can have a significant positive impact on their adolescent children's emotional and behavioral adjustment. Interventions which address parental substance use among PWH should be developed to ameliorate the impact of substance use relapse on their adolescents

Sexual health risk reduction interventions for people with severe mental illness: a systematic review

Background Despite variability in sexual activity among people with severe mental illness, high-risk sexual behavior (e.g. unprotected intercourse, multiple partners, sex trade and illicit drug use) is common. Sexual health risk reduction interventions (such as educational and behavioral interventions, motivational exercises, counselling and service delivery), developed and implemented for people with severe mental illness, may improve participants’ knowledge, attitudes, beliefs behaviors or practices (including assertiveness skills) and could lead to a reduction in risky sexual behavior. This systematic review evaluates the effectiveness of sexual health risk reduction interventions for people with severe mental illness. Methods Thirteen electronic databases (including MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO) were searched to August 2014, and supplemented by hand-searching relevant articles and contacting experts. All controlled trials (randomized or non-randomized) comparing the effectiveness of sexual health risk reduction interventions with usual care for individuals living in the community with severe mental illness were included. Outcomes included a range of biological, behavioral and proxy endpoints. Narrative synthesis was used to combine the evidence. Results Thirteen controlled trials (all from the USA) were included. Although there was no clear and consistent evidence that interventions reduce the total number of sex partners or improved behavioral intentions in sexual risk behavior, positive effects were generally observed in condom use, condom protected intercourse and on measures of HIV knowledge, attitudes to condom use and sexual behaviors and practices. However, the robustness of these findings is low due to the large between study variability, small sample sizes and low-to-moderate quality of included studies. Conclusions There is insufficient evidence at present to fully support or reject the identified sexual health risk reduction interventions for people with severe mental illness. Given the serious consequences of high-risk sexual behaviors, there is an urgent need for well-designed UK based trials, as well as training and support for staff implementing sexual health risk reduction interventions