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Tijuana is situated on the Mexico–USA border adjacent to San Diego, CA, on a major drug trafficking route. Increased methamphetamine trafficking in recent years has created a local consumption market. We examined factors associated with methamphetamine use and routes of administration by gender among injection drug users (IDUs). From 2006–2007, IDUs ≥18 years old in Tijuana were recruited using respondent-driven sampling, interviewed, and tested for HIV, syphilis, and TB. Logistic regression was used to assess associations with methamphetamine use (past 6 months), stratified by gender. Among 1,056 participants, methamphetamine use was more commonly reported among females compared to males (80% vs. 68%, p 35 years (AOR, 0.2; 95% CI, 0.1–0.6) was associated with methamphetamine use. Among males (N = 898), being aged >35 years (AOR, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.3–0.6), homeless (AOR, 1.4 (0.9–2.2)), and ever reporting sex with another male (MSM; AOR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.4–2.7) were associated with methamphetamine use. Among males, a history of MSM was associated with injection, while sex trade and >2 casual sex partners were associated with multiple routes of administration. HIV was higher among both males and females reporting injection as the only route of methamphetamine administration. Methamphetamine use is highly prevalent among IDUs in Tijuana, especially among females. Routes of administration differed by gender and subgroup which has important implications for tailoring harm reduction interventions and drug abuse treatment.

The number of female prisoners continues to grow in the United States, yet most examinations of how to increase reintegration and reduce recidivation focus on the needs of the predominantly male prisoner population. As a result, prison education programs and post-release environments often leave women unprepared and facing special risks. This study reviews the experience of one post-release program, Project PROVE, which focuses on the needs and special circumstances of female ex-inmates, how those circumstances may be barriers to successful reintegration and continued education, and reviews what is needed to promote employment as a critical factor for successful reintegration post release. These include family concerns, parenting issues and employment discrimination as well as more personal barriers such as illness and substance use. Successful social integration is further exacerbated by limited agency funding sources in a social environment that is increasingly unsympathetic to the needs of the post-prison population. (Contains 1 table.)

In 2000 the Center for Urban Studies at Wayne State University received an award to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of a mid-western state's prisoner education program in reducing the recidivism rates of respondents. As part of this evaluation, researchers held several focus groups with ex-inmates in order to determine how useful the education that they'd received in prison had been in finding and maintaining employment post-release. Ex-inmates were also queried as to whether they felt that the education that they'd received had been beneficial to them in their efforts to remain outside the prison system. Not surprisingly, the groups were divided by race and gender. White males were more likely to perceive college courses in prison as being beneficial, reported a higher level of self esteem post education, more often reported that they had taken courses post release to continue their education and were not likely to perceive barriers to employment post release. Black males reported opposite experiences that are likely reinforced by institutionalized racism that additionally reduces opportunities. Black males reported more value in vocational training that provided a work skill, experienced lower levels of post education self esteem and reported more barriers to finding and maintaining employment. As was expected, given the gender bias in the prison population, the number of females participating was too small to allow us to draw conclusions. However, women participants did raise interesting questions for further research. They reported that training was only available to them for traditionally female occupations, such as office skills and cosmetology. Self-esteem was the largest barrier to employment faced by women post release.

Good patient-physician relationships and communication lead to better patient health and more satisfied patients. So far, satisfaction of sexual minority (lesbian, bisexual or women who partner with women) cancer patient-physician interactions is unknown. This study describes sexual minorities' experiences with their treating physicians and which provider attitudes were perceived as positive or negative. We conducted separate individual interviews with 39 sexual minority women diagnosed with breast cancer. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and then analyzed from a Grounded Theory perspective. Participants' narratives indicated that satisfaction is connected with a certain style of patient-physician interactions rather than physician gender. Specific provider traits ill the two domains of (1) inter-personal behaviors and (2) medical expertise and decision-making determined patient satisfaction. These findings suggest that physicians of either gender can develop the skills needed to improve quality of breast cancer care for sexual minority women. doi: 10.1300/J013v44n02_03 KEYWORDS. Physician-patient relations, patient satisfaction, homosexuality, female, interviews, physician's practice patterns, decision making, sex factors

Objective: To examine disclosure of sexual orientation and response rates in a pilot study of questions on sexual orientation and gender of sexual partners in the Nurses' Health Study II. Methods: A pilot questionnaire was mailed to random samples of 350 women from each of three marital status strata: never married, previously married, and currently married. We estimated prevalence of each category of sexual orientation in the pilot study. Response rates to the sexual orientation question for the pilot questionnaire and the 1995 cohort questionnaire were compared. Results: The overall response rate to the pilot study was 78%. In the pilot study, 98% of women reported a sexual orientation of heterosexual, 0.1% bisexual, and 0.9% lesbian, with 0.7% either declining to answer, leaving the question blank, or categorizing themselves as none of the above, weighted for stratified sampling by marital status. The distribution of sexual orientation in the cohort study (N = 91,654) was similar. Asking women to participate in the pilot study of sexual orientation questions did not appear to cause participants to drop out of the cohort. Concordance between reported sexual orientation on the pilot study and the cohort study was high. Conclusions: Based on our experience, researchers may be encouraged to add questions on sexual orientation to large studies of women. KEYWORDS. Lesbian, bisexual, homosexual, women, sexual orientation, sexual behavior, survey research

This article is a comprehensive review of published research on HIV seroprevalence and HIV-related risk behaviors among women injection drug users (IDUs) who have sex with women (WSW). At least 14 studies since the late 1980s converge into a consistent pattern: compared to other IDUs, WSW IDUs report higher levels of HIV-related risk behaviors and in many cases exhibit higher rates of HIV seroconversion or seroprevalence. Data from these and additional studies also indicate that large numbers of women IDUs are WSWs. Since information regarding WSW IDUs are widely collected but infrequently analyzed and reported, we suggest promising research and analysis strategies for exploring the meaning behind this pattern of increased vulnerability to H!V. Finally, we assert that enough is currently known to warrant significant investment in targeted prevention and intervention programs to address the critical HIV-related needs of lesbian, bisexual, and other WSW IDUs.