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Objectives: African American women are disproportionately impacted upon by HIV, particularly in the Southern states of the USA where the percentage of new cases of HIV and the percentage of people living with HIV in the USA are highest. This study describes the lived experiences of HIV-positive African American women based on their written stories. Design: Naturalistic qualitative design. Setting: Three organisations serving people living with HIV in a Southern state in the USA. Method: HIV-positive African American women 18 years of age and older ( N = 23) recruited from organisations working with people living with HIV were given the opportunity to write their own story following their participation in a semi-structured individual private interview. Content analysis was conducted on the written accounts. Results: Analysis of narratives written by HIV-positive African American women revealed themes of self-actualisation and self-worth. While some stories highlighted experiences of helplessness/hopelessness, most stories were more optimistic in nature, offering advice for prevention and highlighting individual efforts of advocacy and education. Stories also touched on risk/protective behaviour and women’s acknowledgement of their own responsibility in their HIV status. Conclusion: Strengths and resources are expressed in stories, as well as the acknowledgement of stressors associated with HIV. These within-culture narratives may be useful in programmes and interventions to inform culturally resonant prevention efforts and promote self-management activities among women living with HIV.

Miguel Sabido's entertainment-education (EE) serial drama strategy has been applied effectively in several developing countries. However, in media-saturated industrialised countries, the full application of his serial drama strategy and EE practices has been rare, due to a number of challenges. This article 1) presents the step-by-step processes involved in the design and implementation of two localised EE radio serial drama projects: BodyLove in the State of Alabama in the US and Bay for the Seventeen in Kumamoto, Japan, and 2) discusses the lessons learned from these two cases. Although the two projects were developed and produced in very different local contexts, overarching lessons learned were that collaboration with local stakeholders using a participatory approach is key to project success, and that efforts, resources and creativity are required for evaluating EE mass media programmes in a media-saturated environment.

Longitudinal studies have been conducted to evaluate correlates of stage of change movement among adult smokers but no studies were found to be conducted among adolescent smokers. This study used longitudinal data to examine adolescents' abstinence self-efficacy over 10-week and six-month periods and determined whether stage transitions were associated with concomitant changes or baseline values in perceived abstinence self-efficacy, nicotine dependence and motivation to quit. From baseline to 10-weeks results showed a change in motivation to quit and baseline stage were significantly associated with stage progression and regression. Additionally, intervention school status was significantly associated with stage progression. On the other hand, baseline score for nicotine dependence predicted stage regression not progression. Adolescents' becoming more or less 'ready' to quit smoking are influenced by their nicotine dependence and motivation to quit.

This study investigates correlates of smoking behaviors among 290 students in a Mississippi Delta middle school and how these adolescents identify their own smoking behaviors. Self-identified "regular smokers" were more socially exposed to smoking, and reported more indications of habitual smoking than "non-smokers," "once in a while smokers" and "ex-smokers." These differences could lead to intervention studies that, in addition to traditionally categorized regular smokers, recruit adolescent smokers who do not identify themselves as regular smokers, but who nevertheless exhibit behaviors characteristic of regular smokers.

Background. African American women are more likely to be diagnosed at later stages of breast cancer. Methods. A total of 15 residents participated in a program to increase their self-efficacy in communication skills relevant to understanding and responding to African American cultural issues associated with mammography screening. Results. Physicians reported increasing confidence in their ability to elicit barriers to mammography; assess cultural beliefs and norms; assess perceived health benefits and emotional adjustment; engage in emotional talk; motivate; and negotiate and build partnerships with patients. Conclusions. A brief program can increase physician communication skills to meet the needs of a diverse population.

PURPOSE: This article describes the planning, implementation, and evaluation of a 2-day conference designed to examine the factors related to the participation of African Americans in cancer clinical trials. METHODS: Pre-conference formative evaluations (e.g., focus group discussions and key informant interviews with community leaders and health providers) were conducted in several rural and urban counties in the state of Alabama to determine African Americans' perceptions of participation in clinical research. The findings from these evaluations were used to develop a conference format and agenda. The 2-day conference included: (i) a pretest of African Americans' perceptions of cancer research, participation factors, and communication and recruitment issues; (ii) individual presentations highlighting community leaders, church leaders, and researchers' perspectives regarding minority participation in research; (iii) working group discussions regarding the barriers and solutions to minority participation in research; and (iv) a posttest evaluation to measure changes in African Americans' perceptions of research. RESULTS: Several recruitment barriers and solutions were identified and reported by the working groups. Comparisons of the pretest and posttest measures showed significant (p > .05) and favorable shifts in the areas of perceptions of cancer research, participation factors, communication issues, and recruitment issues. Participation in the conference reflected a positive change in attitudes on these measures. However, the theme, “barriers that contributed to nonparticipation,” did not show any significant changes during the two testing periods. The most critical lesson that resulted from this conference was the need for researchers and community members to have open dialogue about participation in research. CONCLUSIONS: This conference demonstrated that progress can be made when all parties are at the “table” and can be heard. In this model, community members proved to be valuable resources in providing researchers with information that was vital to the success of recruitment and retention studies and trials.

The Teenage Access Project (TAP) was supported by the Special Projects of National Significance Program to expand and ensure access to health and support services for disadvantaged, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive, and at-risk adolescent and young adult women aged 10-21 years by: (a) preventing further HIV transmission through empowerment and reduction of risk behavior, (b) providing HIV counseling and testing to increase screening of young women, and (c) facilitating referrals to medical and psychosocial services through the TAP activities. TAP served 403 young people (82% African-American and 83% young women). The basic elements of the TAP service model components were: (a) outreach to community agencies serving high-risk, disadvantaged young women; (b) My Individual Responsibility Reduces Our Risk (MIRROR), a six-module risk-reduction and empowerment activity specifically designed for young women in Jefferson County, using a small group format; and (c) the Adolescent Testing Center (ATC), a center for age and culturally appropriate HIV testing, pre- and posttest counseling, risk assessment, and referrals. HIV testing and pre- and posttest counseling were provided confidentially in both clinical and community settings. More than 200 participated in the MIRROR activity. A total of 101 young women received HIV counseling and testing services.

Objective Knowledge in reproductive endocrinology and infertility is fundamental to the delivery of quality women's health care. In 1991, the American Fertility Society formed a resident education committee to gather data on the current status of reproductive endocrinology and infertility training and develop an ideal curriculum. Methods Program directors and reproductive endocrinology and infertility faculty from 288 residencies in obstetrics and gynecology were surveyed about training in reproductive endocrinology and infertility; 257 (89%) of the program directors (survey I) and 203 (82%) of the reproductive endocrinology and infertility faculty (survey II) responded. An ideal curriculum has been developed from consensus discussions, review of survey data, and polling of experienced educators. The curriculum was reviewed and approved by the board of directors of both the Society for Reproductive Endocrinologists and the American Fertility Society. Results The curriculum is divided into subject matter and therapeutics, which are prioritized into three levels of knowledge: critical core curriculum, less critical material, and material with which residents should have familiarity and general knowledge. In addition, other recommendations and suggestions are made regarding the number of rotations, duration of rotations, and teaching methods. Conclusion The ideal curriculum may serve as a guide to assist program directors in the formulation of the most effective residency training in reproductive endocrinology and infertility. The curriculum can help prioritize what should be taught and where an emphasis can be placed. There is not enough time or resources to teach residents all aspects of reproductive endocrinology and infertility.

Use of electronic nicotine delivery systems, most commonly called e-cigarettes (e-cigs,) has been rising over the past few years, with the greatest use among traditional cigarette smokers. The utility and harm of this group of emerging tobacco products are under debate. While some propose them as novel tobacco cessation tools, others decry their potential for sustained addiction and negative health effects. We examined smokers' e-cig use and smoking behaviors at hospitalization and 6 months later. Methods: 979 smokers hospitalized at a tertiary care medical center were recruited to a longitudinal observational study and provided baseline data during hospitalization and 6-months later. Past 30-day (current) e-cig use and smoking rates at both baseline and 6-month follow-up were examined with t-tests. Chi square test examined baseline e-cig use and 6-month smoking status. Results: 823 (84.1%) participants provided data at both time points: mean age was 46 years; 53.6% were White, 44.0% were Black, and 2.5% other; 22.5% had less than a high school degree, 38.8% had a high school diploma/GED, and 38.7% had some college or more; 30.8% were married/domestic partner and 53.6% were male. Current e-cig use was reported by 171 (20.7%) at baseline and 246 (29.9%) at 6-month follow- up, with 98 (11.9%) reporting current e-cig use at both time points. At 6-months follow- up, 12.2% of baseline current e-cig users vs. 13.4% of baseline non-users reported quitting smoking ( P = 0.80), with 22% of baseline e-cig users who quit still using e-cigs at 6–months follow-up. Baseline current e-cig users reported higher daily cigarette consumption (14.1 vs. 11.9; P = 0.010) at baseline but not 6-months later (10.3 vs. 9.8; P = 0.619); whereas, continuing smokers with current e-cig use at 6 months follow-up reported fewer cigarettes per day (8.4 vs. 10.5; P = 0.008). Conclusions: Among adult smokers, current e-cig use at hospitalization was associated with higher cigarette consumption at baseline but was not predictive of quitting or consumption (among continuing smokers) at 6-months follow-up. Further, current e-cig use at 6 months was associated with a greater reduction in cigarettes smoked per day among continuing smokers at 6-months after hospitalization. The following are the 20 highest scoring abstracts of those submitted for presentation at the 39th Annual ASPO meeting held March 15–17, 2015, in Birmingham, AL.

Public health actions to improve African American men's ability to make informed decisions about participation in prostate cancer control activities have a greater likelihood of success when they are theory driven and informed by members of the target population. This article reports on formative research to evaluate the usefulness of the theory of reasoned action as a model to explain and predict prostate cancer information-seeking behavior by African American men. Fifty-two men participated in eight focus group interviews. Positive behavioral beliefs for obtaining prostate cancer information from physicians included increasing awareness of and obtaining accurate information about the disease, early detection and screening, and treatment. Negative beliefs included fear, distrust, and inconvenience. Significant others, peers, siblings, and religious leaders were identified as individuals who could influence this behavior. These findings provide additional insight into ways to reach and intervene with African American men to influence this important cancer control activity.

To assess changes observed in knowledge, attitudes toward people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), self-efficacy and behavioral intentions of senior secondary school students after an HIV/AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) educational intervention in Vinnitsa, Ukraine.A quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control group design with pretest-posttest components was employed. Two secondary schools (intervention and control) were randomly assigned to the study. A random sample of the 15-16-year-old students (100 participants in each school) completed anonymous self-reported pre- and postintervention questionnaires. In addition, a three-month follow-up questionnaire was administrated in both schools to assess the longevity of the intervention outcomes. Outcome scale scores were compared between the two groups on baseline, first, and second posttests separately. We used the Pearson chi-square test for categorical data and a t-test for difference in mean scores.After intervention we observed significantly higher knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy scores among students in the intervention school than in the control school (96.2 +/- 6.2 [SD] vs. 82.6 +/- 8.3, respectively, p.01; 24.4 +/- 4.4 vs. 21.7 +/- 4.8, respectively, p.01; 21.9 +/- 2.6 vs. 20 +/- 3.8, respectively, p.01). As a result of the intervention, we also report significantly higher proportions of students in the intervention school than in the control school who would not intend to use alcohol and narcotics and who intend to use condoms (p.01).Our AIDS education program was able to considerably improve students' knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy, and promoted positive changes in participants' behavior intentions; it should therefore be extended to more schools to multiply its effects. However, in the context of evaluation, studies with actual HIV-risk behavior outcomes are urgent for Ukraine.

Surnmna~ -Th~s study examined che rehability of an inventory measuring AIDSrelated knowledge among 553 black drug users. Data were collected from a socially high-risk cornmunlry in Birmingham, Alabama. The KR-20 reliability scores were computed from the inventory for each drug-use group. The KR-20 rehabilities ranged from .39 to .57. These findings may suggest chat the inconsistent reports of the predictive power of AIDS knowledge among drug users reported in previous studies might be related to the low internal consistencies of the inventory. There is considerable evidence that the use of alcohol or i however, research has shown that knowledge of AIDS has not successfully prehcted behavior of drug users (1, 2). This poor prediction may be attributable to two reasons: (a) the inventory measuring AIDS-related knowledge of drug users may not be reliable and (b) the sample of drug users selected for study may consist of different types of drug users and the cognitive traits of these drug users may ddfer. For example, some samples may consist of mostly alcohol users, while another study sample may include individuals who use &it drugs such as marijuana and crack or those who swap needles. The present study attempted to examine these issues in communities where drug use is common.

The prevalence of female sterilization for contraceptive purposes has grown rapidly throughout the world, and is especially high in the United States. Yet the psychosocial impact of female sterilization is incompletely understood. Much of the previous research has been retrospective and has lacked comparison groups of women using other methods. Better designed, prospective studies have been needed, and the World Health Organization's Collaborative Prospective Study of Female Sterilization was conducted to address this need. No evidence was found in the WHO study of a significant impact of tubal ligation compared to other contraceptive methods on mental health, menstruation, or sexual satisfaction. The present study, a replication of the WHO study, compared 323 Alabama women undergoing elective contraceptive sterilization with 318 women using other techniques to control fertility. In general, the results supported the WHO study conclusions. Although sterilization produced a small increase in menstrual distress in Alabama, there were no significant differences between sterilization and comparison women in mental health or sexual satisfaction.