Information, Motivation, and Behavioral Skills of High-Risk Young Adults to Use the HIV Self-Test

HIV self tests (HIVST) have the potential to increase testing among young adults. However, little is known about high-risk young adults' perception of the HIVST as a risk reduction tool and how they would use the HIVST in their everyday lives. 

Our study sought to examine these factors. Twenty-one ethnically diverse participants (ages 18-24) used the HIVST at our study site, completed surveys, and underwent an in-depth interview. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the survey responses, and interview data were coded using constructs from the information-motivation-behavioral skills model. Information deficits included: how to use the HIVST and the "window period" for sero-conversion. 

Motivations supporting HIVST use included: 

• not needing to visit the clinic, 
• fast results, 
• easy access, and 
• use in non-monogamous relationships. 

Behavioral skills discussed included: 

• coping with a positive test, 
• handling partner violence after a positive test, and 
• accessing HIV services. 

These findings can inform the use of the HIVST for improving HIV testing rates and reducing HIV risk behavior.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/hDsBji

By:  Brown W 3rd1,2, Carballo-Diéguez A1,3, John RM4, Schnall R5.

• 1HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies, New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, New York, USA.
• 2Biomedical Informatics, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, USA.
• 3Psychiatry, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, USA.
• 4School of Nursing, Columbia University, 617 West 168th Street, New York, NY, 10023, USA.
• 5School of Nursing, Columbia University, 617 West 168th Street, New York, NY, 10023, USA. rb897@columbia.edu. 

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Managing the Threat of Violence: Coping Strategies among Juvenile Inmates

This article reports findings on violence, safety, and coping strategies from interviews conducted with 281 male youth incarcerated in California's Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ). Descriptive analyses revealed that youth report that violence is a common occurrence and that some locations, such as school or housing units, were particularly dangerous. 

Analysis of how youth avoid violence revealed three distinct precautionary or coping strategies. These three categories highlight a range of conflict management techniques from avoidance to aggression. 

• Those youth who were younger, sex offenders, or newer to the facility used more passive avoidance techniques,
• While gang members and those more active in violent misconduct used more aggressive techniques. 
• A third group, those youth proactively navigating their interactions, had spent more time in their current institution and were marginally more likely to be adult court commitments. 

Intervention and policy implications of this study are also discussed.

Purchase full article at:  http://goo.gl/5kdnyD

By:  Reid SE1, Listwan SJ2.

• 1University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA.
• 2University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA slistwan@uncc.edu. 

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Factors Promoting Mental Health of Adolescents Who Have a Parent with Mental Illness: A Longitudinal Study

Children of parents with mental illness have an elevated risk of developing a range of mental health and psychosocial problems. Yet many of these children remain mentally healthy.

The present study aimed to get insight into factors that protect these children from developing internalizing and externalizing problems.

Several possible individual, parent–child, and family protective factors were examined cross-sectionally and longitudinally in a sample of 112 adolescents. A control group of 122 adolescents whose parents have no mental illness was included to explore whether the protective factors were different between adolescents with and without a parent with mental illness.

Cross-sectional analyses revealed that high self-esteem and low use of passive coping strategies were related to fewer internalizing and externalizing problems. Greater self-disclosure was related to fewer internalizing problems and more parental monitoring was related to fewer externalizing problems. Active coping strategies, parental support, and family factors such as cohesion were unrelated to adolescent problem behavior. Longitudinal analyses showed that active coping, parental monitoring, and self-disclosure were protective against developing internalizing problems 2 years later. We found no protective factors for externalizing problems. Moderation analyses showed that the relationships between possible protective factors and adolescent problem behavior were not different for adolescents with and without a parent with mental illness.

The findings suggest that adolescents’ active coping strategies and parent–child communication may be promising factors to focus on in interventions aimed at preventing the development of internalizing problems by adolescents who have a parent with mental illness.

  

Full article at: http://goo.gl/eEUXr9

By:  L. M. A. Van Loon, M. O. M. Van De Ven, K. T. M. Van Doesum, C. M. H. Hosman, and C. L. M. Witteman

Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Community Mental Health Centre Dimence, Deventer, The Netherlands

L. M. A. Van Loon, Phone: +31 24 36 12 661, Email: ln.ur.hcysp@noolnav.l.

   

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