News Archive: HIV, STDs, and Sexual Behavior
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2007
Strategies for recalling sexual behavior among high-risk participants — December 10, 2007
Self-reports of very frequent sexual behavior or large numbers of partners tend to be approximations. Prompting respondents to recall behavior in small, manageable chunks will yield more reliable information.
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More sexual behavior research
Children of HIV–infected parents typically not in parental custody — October 19, 2007
More than half of the children involved in this study were not in the custody of their HIV–infected parent(s) at some time during the study period. 62% of parents cited drug use as reasons for losing custody.
Adolescent sexual abstinence associated with better mental health in females — October 16, 2007
Adolescent sexual abstinence predicts better adult mental health in females, but not males. Other factors such as educational prospects and family bonding also significantly influence on outcomes.
Impoverished women are likely to engage in unprotected sex when in committed relationships — October 15, 2007
For impoverished women, either sheltered or housed, "relationship commitment" predicted more frequent engagement in unprotected sex with their partner. Understanding how relationship commitment affects condom use is an important facet of HIV prevention among these women.
Links between community characteristics and HIV risk? — Sept 10, 2007
Community characteristics such as the percent African American, percent male unemployment, percent of households that receive public assistance, and median household income do not seem to be linked to HIV risk behaviors among injection drug users.Sicker individuals choose plans with more generous drug benefits — Sept 4, 2007
Health status didn’t influence benificiaries’ choice of medical plans offered by a large U.S. employer, but sicker beneficiaries were more likely to enroll in plans that had generous drug benefits.State reductions in Medicaid eligibility threaten survival prospects of HIV patients — Sept 6, 2007
Stricter eligibility thresholds for Medicaid adversely affect survival prospects of HIV patients by lowering the rates of use of antiretroviral therapy.Has destigmatization of the HIV epidemic occurred? — August 14, 2007
This article follows the changing perception of HIV from an epidemic and fatal illness to a chronic illness.
Diffusion of new HIV technologies varies by gender — August 13, 2007
Highly active antiretroviral therapy use is diffused more slowly to HIV-positive women than to all other groups in the U.S.
Locally-approved syringe exchange programs are growing— June 25, 2007
The total number of syringes exchanged annually at locally approved syringe exchange programs in California has increased by more than 1 million. At the same time, budgets increased by 50%, and police harassment of program members declined.
Related Research:Severely mentally ill HIV-infected patients experience problems with care — May 31, 2007
HIV patients who are severely mentally ill experience more problems with HIV care than patients without severe mental illness.
Interventions are needed to reduce the stigma of HIV — May 31, 2007
Families living with HIV relayed experiences of discrimination and stigma, some of which seemed to be based on fear of contagion.
The disease burden of male infertility — May 31, 2007
This study examined treatment patterns and costs associated with male infertility. Total expenditures in 2000 for male infertility treatments were about $17 million. However, additional assisted reproductive technologies, such as in vitro fertilization, substantially increased the total cost to $18 billion.Religious teachings and beliefs may promote safer sex among those with HIV — May 01, 2007
This study used a nationally representative sample of 1,421 people in care for HIV to examine whether religiosity affected their sexual behaviors. The study found that religious beliefs and teachings and denominational affiliation appear to promote safer sex among people with HIV.
To reduce HIV infection, programs that decriminalize syringe exchange need to be paired with provisions for decriminalizing syringe possession — Mar 15, 2007
Findings show that, while syringe exchange programs are legal in many California counties, possession of drug paraphernalia, such as the new needles distributed by such programs, remains illegal. Legislative efforts to legalize syringe exchange programs without concurrent efforts to do the same for syringe possession has potentially serious health implications for intravenous drug users and the over all goal of reducing HIV/HCV infections.
Liberal syringe exchange programs provide more coverage — Mar 8, 2007
Syringe exchange programs that have less restrictive needle dispensation policies appear to have higher rates of syringe coverage for their injection drug users. Policies ranged from unlimited syringes based on user need to one-for-one exchange. Injection drug users from 24 programs reported the number of injections over the last 30 days. Coverage was considered adequate if users received enough syringes to cover at least the number of injections they reported.
Improving self-reported adherence to anti-retroviral medications — Feb 26, 2007
HIV-infected patients' self-reported adherence to antiretroviral medications often is typically higher than objectively measured adherence. A longitudinal cohort study that included 330 patients at 5 HIV clinics devised a method to improve self-reported adherence measures using selected items from an adherence survey.
"One shot for one syringe" behavior is associated with lower HIV risk — Feb 15, 2007
HIV risk associated with injection drug use was assessed among almost 1,600 injection drug users. Users who obtained enough syringes from syringe exchange programs to use each one only once appear to have safer injection behaviors and do not dispose of the syringes improperly.
Few HIV-positive parents make formal guardianship arrangements for their children — Feb 12, 2007
A survey of a nationally representative sample of more than 200 unmarried parents who are HIV-infected examined the levels of guardianship they have planned for their children in the event of their death. Results also indicate that pediatricians may be key in providing referrals for guardianship planning.
Needle exchange programs must offer more testing services — Jan. 24, 2007
HIV and HCV (hepatitis C virus) needle exchange programs need to increase testing services for both viruses. Efforts are needed to increase use of such programs, because not all clients participate in programs where such testing is available.
Monitoring teen television viewing limits exposure to sexually explicit content — Jan. 15, 2007
Adolescents who spend more time watching television unsupervised by adults watch programs with heavier sexual content, particularly when the television viewing occurs in their bedrooms.
More adolescent health research
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