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: Introduction: The “Migrants’ Approached Self‐Learning Intervention in HIV/AIDS for Tajiks” (MASLIHAT) recruits and trains Tajik labour migrants who inject drugs as peer educators (PEs) in delivering HIV prevention information and encouragement to adopt risk‐reduction norms and practices within their diaspora social networks while reducing their own HIV risk. Methods: The MASLIHAT intervention was tested in Moscow in a cluster‐randomized controlled trial with 12 recruitment sites assigned to either the MASLIHAT intervention or an equal‐time peer‐educator training focused on other health conditions (TANSIHAT). From October 2021 to April 2022, 140 male Tajik migrants who inject drugs were recruited as PEs to attend the 5‐session MASLIHAT training or the TANSIHAT non‐HIV comparison condition. Each participant in both groups recruited two network members (NMs) who inject drugs with the intent to share with them the information and positive strategies for change they had learned (n = 280). All PEs and NMs (n = 420) participated in baseline and follow‐up interviews at 3‐month intervals for 1 year. All received HIV counselling and testing. Modified mixed effects Poisson regressions tested for group differences in injection practices, sexual risk behaviours and heavy alcohol use over time. Results: At baseline, across both groups, 75% of participants reported receptive syringe sharing (RSS), 42% reported condomless sex and 20% reported binge drinking at least once a month. In contrast to TANSIHAT where HIV risk behaviours remained the same, significant intervention effects that were sustained over the 12 months were observed for receptive syringe and ancillary equipment sharing among both MASLIHAT PEs and NMs (p < 0.0001). Significant declines in the prevalence of sexual risk behaviours were also associated with the MASLIHAT intervention (p < 0.01), but not the comparison condition. Binge alcohol use was not affected in either condition; the MASLIHAT intervention had a transitory effect on drinking frequency that dissipated after 9 months. Conclusions: The MASLIHAT peer‐education intervention proved highly effective in reducing HIV‐related injection risk behaviour, and moderately effective in reducing sexual risk behaviour among both PEs and NMs. Network‐based peer education is an important tool for HIV prevention among people who inject drugs, especially in environments that are not amenable to community‐based harm reduction., INTRODUCTION While significant progress has been made in addressing the AIDS pandemic throughout much of the world, new cases of HIV increased by 48% in eastern Europe and central Asia [...]

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic amplified the risk environment for people who inject drugs (PWID), making continued access to harm reduction services imperative. Research has shown that some harm reduction service providers were able to continue to provide services throughout the pandemic. Most of these studies, however, focused on staff perspectives, not those of PWID. Our study examines changes in perceptions of access to harm reduction services (e.g., participant reported difficulty in accessing syringes and naloxone) among PWID participating in a longitudinal study conducted through the University of Illinois-Chicago's Community Outreach Intervention Projects field sites during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A COIVD-19 survey module was administered from March 2020-February 2022 to participants of an ongoing longitudinal study of PWID ages 18–30, who were English-speaking, and were residing in the Chicago Metropolitan Area. Responses to the COVID-19 survey module were analyzed to understand how study participants' self-reported access to harm reduction services changed throughout the pandemic. Baseline responses to the survey were analyzed to compare participant-reported drug use behaviors and perceived access to harm reduction services across COIVD-19 time periods. Mixed effects logistic regression was used to examine difficulty in syringe access as an outcome of COVID-19 time period. Results: Participants had significantly lower odds (AOR = 0.28; 95% CI 0.12–0.65) of reporting difficulty in accessing syringes later in the pandemic. However, the majority of participants reported access to syringes and naloxone remained the same as before the pandemic. Conclusions: The lack of perceived changes in harm reduction access by PWID and the decrease in those reporting difficulty accessing syringes as the pandemic progressed suggests the efficacy of adaptations to harm reduction service provision (e.g., window and mobile service) during the pandemic. Further research is needed to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted PWIDs' engagement with harm reduction services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latinx people who inject drugs (PWID) are less likely to engage in injection equipment sharing, but are more vulnerable to injection drug use (IDU)-related morbidity and mortality than Whites. Identifying subgroups of Latinx PWID who do engage in equipment sharing and likely bear the brunt of this health burden is a priority. Ethnic disparities may reflect contextual drivers, including injection networks. Latinx PWID with low ethnic homophily (the proportion of individuals with the same ethnic background) may be more likely to share equipment due to forced distancing from health-protective ethnocultural resources and power imbalances within injection networks. The current study offers a framework and examines how associations between network ethnic homophily and injection equipment sharing differ among 74 Latinx and 170 non-Latinx White PWID in the Chicagoland area (N = 244). Latinx had less homophilous than non-Latinx Whites (p <.001). Ethnic homophily was protective for equipment sharing among Latinx (OR = 0.17, 95%CI [0.77, 0.04], p =.02), but not non-Latinx Whites (OR = 1.66, 95%CI [0.40, 6.93], p =.49). Our findings implicate the need for targeted cultured interventions that focus on Latinx PWID who are more vulnerable to morbidity and mortality, potentially due to less access to ethnic peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyzed data from a large randomized HIV/HCV prevention intervention trial with young injection drug users (IDUs). Using categorical latent variable analysis, we identified distinct classes of sexual behavior for men and women. We conducted a latent transition analysis to test the effect of the intervention on transitions from higher to lower risk classes. Men who were in a high-risk class at baseline who received the intervention were 86 % more likely to be in a low-risk class at follow-up compared to those in the control group (p = 0.025). High-risk intervention participants were significantly more likely to transition to the class characterized by unprotected sex with a main partner only, while low-risk intervention participants were significantly less likely to transition to that class. No intervention effect was detected on the sexual risk behavior of women, or of men who at baseline were having unprotected sex with a main partner only.

Objective: To examine the associations among mental health problems, maternal monitoring and permissiveness, mother-daughter communication and attachment, and sexual behaviors among African American girls receiving outpatient psychiatric care. Youths with mental health problems report higher rates of HIV-risk behavior than do their peers, and African American girls have higher rates of sexually transmitted infections than do girls of all other racial groups. Method: A sample of 12- to 16-year-old African American girls (N = 266, mean age = 14.46 years) and their female caregivers (73% biological mothers) completed computerized assessments of girls' mental health symptoms, maternal monitoring and permissiveness, and mother-daughter communication and attachment. Girls indicated their sexual risk behaviors (vaginal/anal sex, consistent condom use, number of partners). Results: African American girls who reported clinically significant externalizing problems, more permissive parenting, less open mother-daughter sexual communication, and more frequent mother-daughter communication were more likely to report having had vaginal and/or anal sex. Sexually active girls with greater maternal attachment were less likely to report inconsistent condom use. Conclusions: Findings revealed important risk and protective factors for African American girls in psychiatric care. HIV-prevention programs may be strengthened by improving mother-daughter relationships and communication and by reducing girls' mental health problems. (Contains 5 tables and 1 footnote.)

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2008.06.004 Byline: Mary Ellen Mackesy-Amiti (a), Michael Fendrich (b), Timothy P. Johnson (c) Keywords: MSM; Drug dependence; Alcohol dependence; Substance treatment; HIV Abstract: This study compares a sample of urban men who have sex with men (MSM) with a general population sample of men in the same city on self-reported problems with substance use indicative of dependence and history of substance use treatment. Both samples were randomly selected using multistage probability methods. All participants completed audio computer-assisted self-interviews, including questions on substance use, problems related to substance use experienced in the past 12 months, and substance treatment. Problem use of alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine did not differ between samples. Compared to men in the general population sample, MSM were significantly more likely to experience problems related to the use of sedatives, tranquilizers, or prescription pain relievers. Among MSM, history of substance treatment was associated with a positive HIV test, and treatment usually preceded HIV diagnosis. Research is needed on effective methods for integrating HIV prevention for MSM into substance treatment settings, including physician-administered buprenorphine treatment for opiate addiction. Author Affiliation: (a) Community Outreach Intervention Projects, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA (b) Center for Addiction and Behavioral Health Research, Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA (c) Survey Research Laboratory, College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA Article History: Received 29 February 2008; Revised 2 June 2008; Accepted 22 June 2008