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Purpose Parents play a critical decision-making role in vaccinating their children against human papillomavirus (HPV), and mothers, in particular, are key stakeholders as they are often the parent taking their children to healthcare visits. Given the importance of the HPV vaccination as a cancer prevention strategy, this study was designed to explore Latinx mothers’ suggested strategies to promote vaccine uptake among Latinx parents. Setting and Participants Community-based in Massachusetts, United States, and Latinx mothers. Design and Methods Descriptive qualitative research employing individual semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using a hybrid method of thematic analysis incorporating deductive and inductive approaches. Results Twenty-two, majority foreign-born (91%) Latinx mothers of adolescent girls (∼60%) and boys (∼40%) aged 11–19 years participated. Mothers suggested several strategies to promote uptake of the HPV vaccine among Latinx families including healthcare providers’ increased communication and anticipatory guidance addressing factors influencing parents’ HPV vaccination hesitancy, and improved community-wide dissemination of culturally and linguistically relevant information targeting not only parents of age-eligible participants but the broader community. Finally, mothers suggested the use of social media using personal narratives and an enhanced active role of schools in providing accurate information to raise awareness and educate adolescents and parents about the importance of HPV vaccination. Conclusion Findings are relevant to the development of tailored interventions to meet the needs of Latinx populations, and ultimately increase Latinx children’s HPV vaccination rates.

This descriptive qualitative study explored Latinx fathers' awareness, knowledge, and acceptability of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for their adolescent children. Data were collected through individual, semi-structured interviews and analysed using a hybrid method of thematic analysis that incorporated deductive and inductive approaches. Nineteen, majority foreign-born Latinx fathers participated. Four main themes and two subthemes emerged from the analyses. Results found fathers' low awareness and knowledge of HPV and the HPV vaccine. Results also identified fathers' positive attitudes toward vaccines in general. Moreover, results revealed fathers trust in healthcare providers and high willingness to vaccinate their children against HPV if recommended by their child's primary healthcare provider. Findings indicate the need for increased efforts to raise awareness and knowledge among Latinx fathers of HPV and the HPV vaccine. Given the limited research focused on Latinx fathers, the study's findings are valuable in building a knowledge foundation for developing future studies and interventions to promote the HPV vaccine targeting Latinx fathers living in the United States. Future research should quantify Latinx fathers' awareness, knowledge, and acceptability of the HPV vaccine for their sons and daughters and assess fathers' role in the decision-making process to vaccinate their children against HPV.

This research tests the independent contribution of social capital and the use of the internet to obtain health information to support maternal-child communication about peer pressure to have sex among Puerto Rican families. A sample of 413 Puerto Rican households in Springfield, MA provides the data to independently test these hypotheses. The results of a logistic regression model suggest that Puerto Rican mothers with increased social capital and who accessed the internet for health information are more likely to communicate with their adolescent children about peer pressure to have sex. The combination of these two mechanisms provide opportunities to convey culturally generated resources to Puerto Rican mothers to assist them in helping their children develop healthy sexual behaviors.

This descriptive qualitative study explored Latinx mothers’ acceptance of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for their adolescent children. Data were collected through individual, semi-structured interviews and analyzed using a hybrid method of thematic analysis that incorporated deductive and inductive approaches. Twenty-two ( n = 22), mostly foreign-born, Latinx mothers of male and female adolescents participated in the study. Three main themes and nine subthemes emerged from the analyses. Findings identified the need for increased efforts to raise awareness and knowledge among Latinx mothers of the direct benefits of the HPV vaccine for sons, including stressing prevention of HPV-associated cancers in males. Findings also underscore the need for improved health care providers’ communication and recommendation of the HPV vaccine for Latinx adolescent males. Future research should intervene upon the study’s findings to address barriers that remain and affect Latinx mothers’ acceptance and uptake of the HPV vaccine for their children, in particular their sons.

Objective: Despite increasing interest in understanding factors influencing awareness, knowledge, and acceptability of the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine among Latino parents to date, limited information is available specific to Latino fathers living in the United States. Methods: This descriptive qualitative study explored Latino fathers’ awareness, knowledge, and acceptability of the HPV vaccine for their adolescent children. Data were collected through individual, semi-structured interviews and analyzed using a hybrid method of thematic analysis that incorporated deductive and inductive approaches. Results: Nineteen, majority foreign-born Latino fathers (63.2%; n = 12) fathers of male and female adolescents participated in the study. Four main themes and two subthemes emerged from the analyses. Results found fathers’ low awareness and knowledge of HPV and the HPV vaccine. Results also identified fathers’ positive attitude toward vaccines in general. Moreover, results revealed fathers’ trust in healthcare providers. This trust translated into an increased willingness to vaccinate their children against HPV if recommended by their child’s primary healthcare provider. Conclusion: Findings indicate the need for increased efforts to raise awareness and knowledge among Latino fathers of HPV and the HPV vaccine. In addition, findings underscore the critical role of healthcare providers’ recommendation of the HPV vaccine. Given the limited research focused on Latino fathers, this study’s findings are valuable in building a knowledge foundation needed for developing future studies and interventions to promote the HPV vaccine by targeting Latino fathers living in the United States. Future research should quantify Latino fathers' awareness, knowledge, and acceptability of the HPV vaccine for their children, and preferences for educational interventions to promote HPV vaccination.

BACKGROUND Parents play a critical decision-making role in vaccinating their age-eligible adolescent children against HPV. Despite evidence indicating that Latino adolescents have higher HPV vaccination rates than non-Hispanic whites, uptake of the HPV vaccine remains lower than the 80% goal set by the Healthy People 2020. Moreover, studies suggest that Latino adolescent males have lower rates of HPV vaccination than Latina adolescent females. OBJECTIVE Given the importance of the HPV vaccination as a cancer prevention strategy and the unique decision-making role parents play in vaccinating their children, this study was designed to explore Latina mothers’: (1) acceptance of the HPV vaccine, and (2) suggested strategies to promote vaccine uptake among Latino parents and their adolescent children. METHODS A descriptive qualitative research employing individual semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using a hybrid method of thematic analysis that incorporated deductive and inductive approaches. RESULTS Twenty-two, majority foreign-born (91%; n = 20) Latina mothers of adolescent girls (~ 60%; n = 23) and boys (~ 40%; n = 15) aged between 11 and 19 years (mean age of adolescents: 15.3 years) participated in the study. Results revealed mothers’ high acceptance of the HPV vaccine for their daughters and their positive beliefs about the direct benefits of the vaccine to protect their daughters’ health by preventing STI and future cervical cancer risk. Such positive beliefs influenced mothers’ high uptake and initiation of the vaccine for their daughters. In contrast, study findings revealed mothers’ low acceptance and uptake of the vaccine for their sons. Our findings showed that the majority of mothers did not perceiving HPV infection as a major risk to their sons’ health, and therefore, did not perceive direct health benefits of the HPV vaccine for their sons as they did for their daughters (i.e., prevention of cervical cancer). CONCLUSIONS Findings identified the need for increased efforts to raise awareness and knowledge among Latino parents of the direct benefits of the vaccine for their sons and the cancer prevention benefits of the vaccine for HPV-associated cancers that affect not only females but also males. Finally, findings underscore the need for improved healthcare providers' communication and recommendation of the HPV vaccine for Latino adolescent males. Future research should intervene upon findings identified in this study in order to address barriers that remain and affect Latino parents’ acceptance and uptake of the HPV vaccine for their children, and in particular, for their sons. CLINICALTRIAL n/a

Despite increasing interest in understanding the factors influencing awareness and acceptability of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine among Latino parents, to date limited information is available specific to Central American parents living in the United States (US). Therefore, this pilot cross-sectional study was designed to explore and assess Central American immigrant parents&rsquo, awareness, acceptability, and willingness to vaccinate their children against HPV, and interest in participating in future HPV-associated cancer prevention study. Fifty-six Central American parents, majority immigrant (96.4%, n = 54) from four countries, El Salvador&mdash, 50% (n = 27), Guatemala&mdash, 25.9% (n = 14), Honduras&mdash, 22.2% (n = 12), and Panama&mdash, 1.9% (n = 1) participated in this study. Participants completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire survey in their preferred language (i.e., Spanish or English). A little over half of the participants were mothers (57.1%, n = 32) and parents&rsquo, mean age was 43.2 years (SD = 6.4). The majority was married or cohabitating (76.8%, n = 43), and 39.3% (n = 22) reported having two children. Seventy-five percent (n = 42) of parents reported they had heard of the HPV vaccine. Fewer fathers were aware of the HPV vaccine (58.3%, n = 14 vs.87.5%, n = 28, p = 0.01) than mothers. Among parents who had heard of the HPV vaccine (n = 42), 85.7% (n = 36) reported their children had received at least one dose of the HPV vaccine. Fewer fathers reported their child had been vaccinated against HPV (64.3%, n = 9 vs. 96.4%, n = 27, p = 0.06) than mothers. Moreover, 90% of parents (n = 18) whose children were unvaccinated reported willingness to vaccinate their adolescent children against HPV if recommended by their child&rsquo, s physician. Findings indicate parents&rsquo, low to moderate awareness of the HPV vaccine, and high willingness to vaccinate their adolescent children if recommended by their child&rsquo, s physician. Findings also demonstrate fathers&rsquo, lower awareness and acceptability of the HPV vaccine than mothers. Despite limitations and the need for more research, findings of this pilot study serve as a valuable first step toward building a knowledge foundation that is needed for developing future studies and interventions targeting Central American immigrant parents living in the US. Future studies can build on the findings of this exploratory study with other research designs and address its limitations by having a larger sample size and accounting for additional factors associated with Central American immigrant parents&rsquo, HPV awareness, knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and vaccine acceptability from other communities across the US.

Declining social capital is one explanation for lower response to household surveys. By intentionally developing an awareness of social capital among its interviewers, the Por Ahí Dicen research study encouraged the use of interviewer social capital as a mechanism to achieve a response rate of 65.2 percent for baseline and post-intervention household studies of Puerto Rican mothers ( n = 413). These surveys were conducted in a “hard-to-count” urban environment designated by the U.S. Census Bureau. The interviewer trainings highlighted three domains of social capital: reciprocity and generalized trust, group or social cohesion, and cultural affirmation. By stressing the importance of social capital as an engagement tool, interviewers more easily made research participation salient and successfully leveraged Puerto Rican mothers’ participation in the community study.

Success in producing a population projection predominately depends on the accuracy of its migration rates. In developing an interregional, cohort-component projection methodology for the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, we created an innovative approach for producing domestic migration rates with synthetic populations using 1-year, American Community Survey (ACS), and Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS). Domestic in- and out-migration rates for Boston used 2007&ndash, 2014 ACS data and developed synthetic Boston and United States populations to serve as denominators for calculating these rates. To assess the reliability of these rates, we compared the means and standard deviations of eight years of these rates (2007&ndash, 2014) with synthetic populations by single-year ages for females and males to rates produced from two ACS samples using the same migration data in the numerator but the prior year&rsquo, s age data in the denominator. We also compared results of population projections for 2015 using these different migration rates to several 2015 U.S. Census Bureau population estimates for Boston. Results suggested our preferred rates with synthetic populations using one ACS sample for each year&rsquo, s migration rates were more efficient than alternative rates using two ACS samples. Projections using these rates with synthetic populations more accurately projected Boston&rsquo, s 2015 population than an alternative model with rates using the prior year&rsquo, s age data.

Engaging community residents and undergraduate Latino students in developing research and community literacies can expose both groups to resources needed to address health disparities. The bidirectional learning process described in this article developed these literacies through an ethnographic mapping fieldwork activity that used a learning-by-doing method in combination with reflection on the research experience. The active efforts of research team members to promote reflection on the research activities were integral for developing research and community literacies. Our findings suggest that, through participating in this field research activity, undergraduate students and community residents developed a better understanding of resources for addressing health disparities. Our research approach assisted community residents and undergraduate students by demystifying research, translating scientific and community knowledge, providing exposure to multiple literacies, and generating increased awareness of research as a tool for change among community residents and their organizations. The commitment of the community and university leadership to this pedagogical method can bring out the full potential of mentoring, both to contribute to the development of the next generation of Latino researchers and to assist community members in their efforts to address health disparities.

Social capital is frequently used to explain many policy related outcomes, but research has not adequately explained how it is accumulated. It is unclear whether the economic or social characteristics of others in a social network motivate social capital accumulation. This lack of understanding has called some to question social capital's efficacy. Employing data from a survey of randomly selected foreign-born Mexicans in Los Angeles County, the influence of social and economic characteristics of a migrant's social network members are estimated. Results suggest a negative association with social capital accumulation for Mexican migrants with a social network member outside their neighborhood. Having married social network members is positively associated for legal Mexicans, while having network members who work in occupations requiring more social skills is positively associated for unauthorized Mexicans accumulating social capital. Measures of human and financial capital are not associated with the probability of developing social capital.

Social capital provides access to material and personal resources through participation in social networks and other social structures. Social capital may not function equally for all populations, especially those living in residentially segregated urban neighborhoods with increased levels of poverty. This is because inequalities exist in social capital accumulation and are found where disadvantaged socioeconomic groups cluster. Using probabilistic household survey data consisting of 205 Puerto Rican mothers in Springfield, Massachusetts in 2013, this research tests hypotheses regarding the association of social capital accumulation with Puerto Rican mothers’ individual, neighborhood, and social network characteristics. Logistic regression results suggested that Puerto Rican mothers who were employed and lived in neighborhoods with other Latinos were more likely to accumulate social capital. In addition, mothers who participated in activities of their children also had increased social capital accumulation. This neighborhood effect on social capital accumulation may promote bonding social capital but not bridging social capital among these Puerto Rican mothers.

Introduction Latina mothers play a central role in raising and socializing their children; however, few studies have examined the cultural, socio-cognitive and neighborhood-related variables influencing the level of communication between Puerto Rican mothers and their children about sexuality and sexual health. This cross-sectional study sought to examine these influences. Methods Puerto Rican mothers with children aged 10–19 years (n = 193) were selected randomly for an ethnographic interview as part of a community participatory action research project in a U.S. urban northeastern community. Results Bivariate analyses found statistically significant associations between the child’s age (p = 0.002), the mother’s past communication about traditional gender role norms of women (marianismo) (p

The mechanisms through which social capital is accumulated may influence its relationship with hourly earnings. Because Mexican men and women accumulate social capital differently, for instance, gender may be an important factor for understanding social capital’s association with Mexican migrant earnings. Unlike past research that often fails to differentiate between various social capital metrics (e.g., social network member reciprocity, participation in civic group organizations, neighbourhood trust), this article estimates two of these associations with wages while controlling for individual-, household- and neighbourhood-level characteristics. Results suggest that foreign-born Mexican men receive a wage premium from civic participation (bridging social capital) and a wage penalty from reciprocal social network exchange (bonding social capital). We also find that unauthorized legal status (among Mexican men and all migrants) and having children (among women) were negatively associated with hourly wages. We conclude with a discussion of the relative association of human and social capital with Mexican migrant wages.

Social capital research rarely separates interpersonal networks of reciprocity from trust (a characteristic of some relationships) or civic group participation and has generally ignored Portes's call to investigate determinants, rather than effects, of social capital. Employing data from a survey of randomly selected households of Mexican immigrants, the authors estimate how individual characteristics (including legal status and participation in civic groups) and various neighborhood-level socioeconomic factors influenced the probability of having had social capital—defined parsimoniously as having helped (or having been helped by) someone within one's family or friendship network when in need. Results suggest that higher educated, employed males residing in more densely populated neighborhoods with higher levels of homeownership were more likely to have engaged in such reciprocal exchange. Surprisingly, those who attended at least one labor union meeting during the previous year were less likely. Participation in other civic groups and unauthorized residency status appear to have had no effect.

The rapid evolution in the Boston MPO transportation planning process is discussed as well as its particular application to the suburban-suburban transportation needs of low income individuals. The results of two experiments designed to improve access to transportation for low income suburban individuals are discussed and policy suggestions are made for improving such access.