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Abstract Support groups for people living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) have continued to evolve since their emergence over two decades ago. In addition to providing HIV education and fostering psychosocial support, recent efforts have shifted the focus to socio-economic activities and retention in care. The sense of urgency to adopt new treatment and prevention strategies in sub-Saharan Africa necessitates greater engagement of established HIV care programs, especially among researchers seeking to conduct implementation research, promote prevention strategies and optimize treatment as prevention. To maximize the utility of support groups in doing so, efforts to create an organized, collaborative framework should be considered. This paper aims to describe the process of refocusing an adult HIV peer-support group and illustrate how a structured program was strengthened to sustain implementation research in resource-limited settings, while promoting patient recruitment and retention. A multidisciplinary team of scientists supporting an HIV peer-support group spearheaded the implementation process that authored the successes, challenges and lessons documented over eight years. Psychosocial support, nutrition care and support, adherence education and income generating projects were the main interventions employed. The initiative resulted in seven peer-reviewed publications, submission of 23 scientific abstracts, scientific dissemination at 12 international conferences. Eleven research studies and 16 income generating projects were successfully conducted over eight years. More than 900 patients participated in peer-support group activities every month and 400 were engaged in income generating activities. This multidisciplinary structured program was valuable in the retention and recruitment of patients for implementation research and benefits extended to psychosocial support, microeconomic projects, and improved nutrition. The support group contributed to strengthening implementation research through providing a platform for identification of research priorities, patient recruitment and retention in studies and dissemination of research findings.

Abstract While important advances have been made in the prevention and treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection, limited expertise and resource constraints to effectively manage rollout of HIV programs often contribute to poor treatment outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 1998, the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) and the University at Buffalo, State University of New York (UB), developed a collaborative clinical pharmacology capacity building program in Zimbabwe to train the next generation of HIV researchers and support rollout of the national HIV program. The collaboration was funded by research and training grants that were competitively acquired through United States of America government funding mechanisms, between 1998 and 2016. Thirty-eight research fellows were trained and a specialty clinical pharmacology laboratory was established during this period. Knowledge and skills transfer were achieved through faculty and student exchange visits. Scientific dissemination output included sixty-two scholarly publications that influenced three national policies and provided development of guidelines for strategic leadership for an HIV infection—patient adherence support group. The clinical pharmacology capacity building program trained fellows that were subsequently incorporated into the national technical working group at the Ministry of Health and Child Care, who are responsible for optimizing HIV treatment guidelines in Zimbabwe. Despite serious economic challenges, consistent collaboration between UZ and UB strengthened UZ faculty scholarly capacity, retention of HIV clinical research workforce was achieved, and the program made additional contributions toward optimization of antiretroviral therapy in Zimbabwe.

WHO launched the Good Governance for Medicines (GGM) programme in 2004 with the aim of fighting the problem of corruption in the pharmaceutical sector. Zimbabwe adopted the GGM programme in 2015 and developed its own implementation framework (GGM-IF) in 2017 based on the WHO global guidelines and recommendations. Zimbabwe’s GGM-IF emerged from; (1) home-based expertise, (2) extensive local consultations and (3) effective incorporation into existing institutions. The GGM-IF committed to implementing a focused programme over a 5-year period from 2017 to 2022 with the expressed goal of improving transparency and accountability in the pharmaceutical sector as a key enabler to improve access to medicines. Midway through its projected lifespan, some notable achievements materialised attributed to key success drivers, including mutual collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Child Care’s existing Global Fund supported Quality Assurance Programme. Key challenges faced include limited funding for the programme, a shifting policy environment driven by a political transition and reorientation of priorities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This manuscript articulates 3-year operationalisation of Zimbabwe’s GGM-IF highlighting the success drivers, implementation challenges and lessons learnt.

Even though open and distance learning (ODL) using Information and Communication Technologies can be applied across disciplines and at various levels, this paper focuses on the supervision of PhD students studying through the Open and Distance Learning mode of education using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Taking into account the fact that higher education institutions are always striving to increase the quality of supervision and throughput of doctoral programmes, the study highlights how Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can mitigate these challenges. The study was carried out in 10 Zimbabwean universities to evaluate the levels of preparedness of universities, supervisors and PhD students in using information and communication technology during their studies. Purposive sampling was used focusing on PhD students studying through ODL, local universities offering PhD programmes experienced, PhD supervisors, the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education officials and officials from the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development. Students, universities and supervisors were not fully prepared to do their work using ICTs due to various reasons. Some of the reasons given were that some universities did not have the required infrastructure and facilities in place. Some of the supervisors and students lacked basic computer skills and this affected the quality of supervision and slowness in giving feedback. The lack of internet availability and poor connectivity were also cited as challenges especially with the prevailing load shedding. The study recommends universities to invest in ICTs infrastructure since higher education transcends geographical boundaries.

Divorce has been conceptualized as a process. Research has extensively demonstrated that it is pre/postdivorce family environment factors that primarily account for the variability in children's adaptation over parental divorce process rather than the legal divorce per se. Amongst various factors, interparental conflict has been consistently identified as a prominent one. Surprisingly, a single source is still lacking that comprehensively synthesizes the extant findings. This review fills this gap by integrating the numerous findings across studies into a more coherent Divorce Process and Child Adaptation Trajectory Typology (DPCATT) Model to illustrate that pre/postdivorce interparental conflict plays crucial roles in shaping child adaptation trajectories across parental divorce process. This review also summarizes the mechanisms (e.g., child cognitive and emotional processes, coparenting, parent-child relations) via which pre/postdivorce interparental conflict determines these trajectories and the factors (e.g., child gender and age, child coping, grandparental support) that interact with pre/postdivorce interparental conflict to further complicate these trajectories. In addition, echoing the call of moving beyond the monolithic conceptualization of pre/postdivorce interparental conflict, we also review studies on the differential implications of different aspects (e.g., frequency versus intensity) and types (e.g., overt versus covert) of interparental conflict for child adjustment. Last, limitations of prior studies and avenues for future research are discussed. The proposed framework may serve as a common knowledge base for researchers to compare/interpret results, detect cutting edges of the fields, and design new studies. The specificity, complexity, nuance, and diversity inherent within our proposed model await to be more fully revealed., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Objective: This study seeks to understand the ways in which spouses' gender-related attitudes are configured within couples and how such configurations are linked to marital satisfaction in Chinese marriage., Method: Latent profile analysis was conducted using dyadic data from a nationwide large sample of Chinese couples from the China Family Panel Studies (N = 7,257 couples; M years of marriage = 28.36, SD = 12.84; M age for wives = 52.38, SD = 12.63; M age for husbands = 50.51, SD = 12.37)., Results: Four profile groups were identified: the "modern female and traditional male" group (MFTM); the "traditional female and modern male" group; the "child-oriented" group; and the "traditional female and traditional male" group. Husbands' and wives' marital satisfaction varied across groups in different patterns (yet all relevant effect sizes were modest). In general, husbands in the congruent group reported higher satisfaction than did those in the incongruent groups, whereas wives in the "MFTM" group reported lower satisfaction than did those in the other groups., Conclusions: Such findings shed light on the understudied heterogeneity that inherently exists in the within-couple patterning of gender-related attitudes and its implications for marital well-being in a Chinese cultural context., (© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Sexuality is an integral component of many intimate relationships, and research has consistently demonstrated a positive association between sexual and marital satisfaction. However, the temporal dynamics of this association remain controversial and understudied with rigorous longitudinal dyadic approaches, and empirical efforts examining this association in non-Western samples remain sparse. Based on three annual waves of data from 268 Chinese couples during the early years of marriage, this study tested a cross-lagged, actor-partner interdependence model examining the association between sexual and marital satisfaction. Results indicated that (a) across three waves, husbands' earlier sexual satisfaction predicted their later marital satisfaction, rather than the reverse; (b) from Wave 1 to Wave 2, wives' earlier marital satisfaction predicted their later sexual satisfaction, rather than the reverse, but no association between wives' sexual and marital satisfaction was found from Wave 2 to Wave 3; and (c) four longitudinal indirect associations linking sexual and marital satisfaction were identified, including three actor associations and one partner association. Such findings shed light on the complexity inherent within the dynamic association between sexual and marital satisfaction over the early years of marriage in the Chinese cultural context.

This article reviews the current research on the potential stressors associated with identity transformation experienced by same-sex couples during the transition to parenthood and the coping strategies they employ. By integrating disparate findings into an ecological, stress-strategy-adaptation framework, we demonstrate that the identity transformation experiences among same-sex couples during the transition to parenthood (a) involve various adaptive processes of navigating different stressors via their human agency within multiple nested contexts; (b) are products of the intersections of individual characteristics, relational dynamics, LGBT community culture, and heterosexual sociostructural norms; and (c) are complicated by social contextual factors such as social class, race/ethnicity, family structure, and the sociocultural environment associated with geographic location. Last, several avenues for future inquiry are suggested.

Employing a multicontext observational design, using a person-centered approach, and treating the marital dyad as the unit of analysis, this study examined the within-couple communication patterning of 144 Chinese newlywed couples and its association with relationship satisfaction. Latent profile analysis consistently revealed 3 profiles of spouses' interactive behaviors across contexts differing in both topic nature (i.e., problem-solving vs. social support) and initiator (i.e., husbands vs. wives): (a) traditionally undemonstrative profile, (b) emotionally quarrelling profile, and (c) warmly supportive profile. The prevalence of communication profiles changed markedly with the nature of the discussion topic and the topic initiator. Further, using latent class analysis, we classified couples into subgroups based on their identified profile memberships across contexts (i.e., consistency of interaction mode across contexts). Three classes were identified: (a) consistently quarrelling class, (b) consistently supportive class, and (c) modestly traditional class. Both the consistently supportive class and the modestly traditional class reported significantly higher levels of marital satisfaction than did the consistently quarrelling class., ((c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).)

This study uses a positive youth development (PYD) approach to explore whether differences in youths' conceptions of spirituality were linked to patters of difference regarding 6 domains of PYD. Using data from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development, findings revealed a consistent trend across 6 domains of positive development. Youth who had coherent conceptions of being spiritual generally scored highest on measures of positive development, whereas youth in the ambiguous spirituality group (i.e., less coherent) scored the lowest. However, follow-up analyses reveal that such relations did not hold over time. Implications of findings include youth development professionals aiming to nurture the spiritual growth of youth should encourage more coherent notions of spirituality among the youth they serve., (Copyright © 2015 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study examined the prevalence, predictors, and outcomes of spanking and verbal punishment in 2,573 low-income White, African American, and Mexican American toddlers at ages 1, 2, and 3. Both spanking and verbal punishment varied by maternal race/ethnicity. Child fussiness at age 1 predicted spanking and verbal punishment at all 3 ages. Cross-lagged path analyses indicated that spanking (but not verbal punishment) at age 1 predicted child aggressive behavior problems at age 2 and lower Bayley mental development scores at age 3. Neither child aggressive behavior problems nor Bayley scores predicted later spanking or verbal punishment. In some instances, maternal race/ethnicity and/or emotional responsiveness moderated the effects of spanking and verbal punishment on child outcomes.

This study investigated parenting stress trajectories among low-income young mothers and the factors that are associated with change and stability of parenting stress as children aged from 14 to 36 months old. With a sample of 580 young mothers who applied to the Early Head Start Program, growth mixture modeling identified 3 trajectory classes of parenting stress: a chronically high group (7% of the sample), an increasing group (10% of the sample), and a decreasing group (83% of the sample). Maternal personal resources distinguished between the increasing and decreasing classes, whereas maternal personal resources, child characteristics, and contextual influences explained differences between the chronically high and decreasing trajectory classes. Findings suggest that for interventions to be effective, programs need to assess maternal, child, and contextual factors to better address the particular unique needs of young mothers.

The present study investigated the extent to which maternal intrusiveness and warmth during play, observed in 579 European American, 412 African American, and 110 more and 131 less acculturated Mexican American low-income families when children were approximately 15 months old, predicted 3 dimensions of the mother-toddler relationship 10 months later. Intrusiveness predicted increases in later child negativity in all 4 groups. Among African Americans only, this association was moderated by maternal warmth. Intrusiveness predicted negative change in child engagement with mothers only in European American families. Finally, near-significant trends suggested that intrusiveness predicted later decreased dyadic mutuality in European American and more acculturated Mexican American families, but not in African American or less acculturated Mexican American families.

Reckless driving practices were studied among 139 high school students aged 17-18. A majority of both boys and girls reported driving at high speeds, and a majority of boys reported racing in a car and passing in a no-passing zone. About one-quarter of boys and girls reported driving while intoxicated. Sensation seeking and aggressiveness were found to be related to reckless driving practices. Fifty-nine of the students kept a log of their driving episodes over a 10-day period. Analysis of these data indicated that the participants drove faster when in an angry mood than when in any other mood. Also, they drove faster when alone or with friends than when their parents were present.

A 41-item questionnaire was developed to assess cognitions that are representative of the DSM-IV conceptualization of depressive personality disorder. Eighty-nine undergraduates from a private, Midwestern, Catholic university were administered the Depressive Personality Disorder Inventory (DPDI), the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS), and the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire-Revised (ATQ-R). Results indicated that the DPDI is internally consistent, assesses a single construct, and has construct validity relative to the DAS and ATQ-R. Given these promising initial findings, continued use and refinement of the DPDI are warranted.

This study examined whether sixth graders' (mean age = 11.86 years) adjustment to the school context (assessed by grades, achievement scores, and disruptive behavior) was affected by factors from both the family context (represented by students' reports of the number of parenting transitions experienced as well as current levels of supervision, acceptance, autonomy granting, and conflict in the family) and the peer context (represented by students' perceptions of peer norms supporting academic excellence). School adjustment was related to the number of parenting transitions experienced, family climate, and peer norms as well as to higher-order relations involving family climate and peer norms such that (a) high grade point averages occurred at only moderate levels of family supervision, (b) achievement scores were positively related to supervision at only low levels of family autonomy granting, and (c) grade point average was positively related to peer norms at only high levels of family acceptance.

This study assessed the relation between adjustment and perceptions of both family acceptance and family control in 2 samples of young adolescents, ns = 851 (mean age = 12.36 years) and 269 (mean age = 10.89 years), respectively. In Sample 1, dimensions of adjustment included self-reports of psychosocial competence and problems with self-regulation. In Sample 2, adjustment was indexed by peer ratings of likability. In both samples, family acceptance and family control were positively related to adjustment. However, in Sample 1, family control was also curvilinearly related to adjustment but in a different pattern for the 2 adjustment scores. Specifically, the positive relation between family control and psychosocial competence was stronger at progressively higher levels of family control, whereas low--but not moderate or high-levels of control were related to many self-regulation problems. In light of evidence that acceptance and control are complexly related to adjustment, we recommend that researchers routinely examine curvilinear effects in this area of study.

Numerous problems have plagued the diagnosis of the passive-aggressive (P-A) personality disorder. Based on criteria established to evaluate the functional utility of diagnostic categories, the P-A personality disorder does not appear to be an adequate psychiatric diagnosis. However, the concept of passive-aggressiveness may be retained as a useful psychiatric construct when viewed from a dimensional rather than a categorical perspective. A model is presented that describes passive-aggressiveness as consisting of five interrelated psychological factors: rigidity, resentment, resistance, reactance, and reversed reinforcement. This interactive model provides a more detailed and richer description of the P-A style than what is captured in the current diagnostic nomenclature. It is hoped that the model's characterization of P-A in concrete and testable terms will facilitate research into the utility of the passive-aggressiveness construct.

This study explored residents' attitudes toward referring subjects to other residents' research studies and toward conducting their own research projects. With respect to referring subjects to other research investigations, the ease of the referral mechanism and potential benefits to patients were of prime importance to residents. With respect to participating in their own research projects, the learning opportunity provided by working with a faculty mentor was rated as the key motivator. A lack of available time and an abundance of other clinical demands discouraged research activity. Suggestions are offered for residency training programs that wish to increase resident interest and participation in research projects.

Little empirical information is available regarding the process of self-soothing in borderline individuals, as well as in normal subjects. This study examined the frequency of used of soothing "things," soothing "behaviors," and soothing "psychological activities" in three groups: borderline personality disorder, major depressive disorder without concurrent personality disorder, and college students. Results indicated that: (1) borderline individuals reported using soothing things at comparable levels to the other two groups; (2) borderline subjects and those with major depressive disorders used more adaptive soothing behaviors than did college students; (3) borderline subjects used more maladaptive soothing behaviors than the other two groups; and (4) borderline individuals used psychologically soothing activities at frequencies comparable to the other two groups. These results are intended to begin the process of developing a soothing profile for individuals with borderline personality disorder.

This study investigates the treatment impressions and termination experiences of faculty clinicians treating individuals with borderline personality disorder. Thirty-nine clinicians (28 psychiatrists and 11 psychologists) completed the Treatment of Borderlines Survey. Results indicated that individual psychotherapy was perceived to be the most valuable treatment modality, that the majority of respondents work towards character change but do not expect "normal," the most common reported reasons for patient termination were "patient does not see the purpose of treatment" and "patient terminates through acting-out behaviors," and a slight majority reported that they had "cured" at least some of their borderline patients. The most common concerns experienced during the termination process included regression, acting-out, and self-destructive behavior. There were very few differences in the perceptions and treatment experiences between psychiatrists and psychologists. These results provide empirical support for claims made in the clinical literature on treating borderline patients.

This analysis examined the stability of the Borderline Syndrome Index with 19 women who have eating disorders. The index appears moderately stable over a 3-yr. time period.

Changes in adaptive functioning of 32 older adults with mental retardation following deinstitutionalization were assessed. The Adaptive Behavior Scale was administered at two times (separated by 1.5 years) for these adults, who were transferred from a state-operated institution to an ICF-MR facility. An overall increase in both adaptive and maladaptive behavior was found. In addition, female residents and those with moderate/mild levels of retardation had higher levels of adaptive functioning than did males and those with severe levels of retardation. These findings extend previous research by focusing on the older segment of the mentally retarded population.

Managing suicidal behavior of individuals with borderline personality disorder presents both therapeutic and ethical/legal dilemmas. It is argued in this paper that clinicians treating borderline individuals need to carefully discriminate "acute" from "chronic" suicidal states. For "acute" suicidal situations, traditional management approaches are appropriate. However, for "chronic" situations, common among borderline individuals, traditional management approaches may be therapeutically counterproductive. A number of proposals for managing chronic suicidal behavior are reviewed. Unfortunately, current ethical standards and laws have evolved from considering suicide in an "acute" context and are insensitive to the "chronic" situation. Recommendations are made for clinicians to effectively manage chronic suicidal behaviors within present ethical and legal guidelines, and some suggestions for legal reform are offered.

The purpose of our study was to determine the effects of internal versus external attentional focus on symptom perception and performance in an exercise setting. Fifteen introductory psychology undergraduates ran 1 mile under each of three experimental conditions: "word-cue," in which subjects were required to focus externally by listening for a target word heard repeatedly over headphones; "breathing," in which subjects were directed to attend to their own breathing and heart rate; and a control. Results indicated that participants reported significantly less symptomatology, particularly exercise-relevant symptoms, in the word-cue condition than in the breathing or control conditions. The findings are discussed with reference to previous theory in this area, and methodological differences between this and earlier research are delineated.

This study presents survey data bearing on the prevalence of young children (0-4) at risk for the development of handicapping conditions, and projects a method for operationalizing the assessment of risk in this population. A statewide survey of 1,551 families in Ohio was conducted through a telephone interview structured to identify young children at risk for the development of handicapping conditions. It was found that over a sixth (17.8 percent) of the 2,133 children were at risk for developing handicapping conditions, based on a criterion of the presence of at least two risk factors. Five percent of the children sampled were identified as having three or more risk factors present. The implications of these results for prevention and service planning are discussed.

This study assessed the prevalence of borderline personality symptomatology among women with eating disorders. The Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines, Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory, and Borderline Syndrome Index were administered to 28 women in a hospital-based eating disorders program. Results revealed that 39% were classified as borderline on at least one measure, 29% on at least two measures, and 18% on all three. Recovered restricters were particularly prone to borderline personality symptomatology. This study improves upon previous work in this area by employing multiple measures of borderline personality, assessing eating disorder subgroup differences, and recruiting subjects from a single eating disorder treatment program.