Raul Maldonado

Community-based rapid HIV testing is effective for reaching racial-ethnically diverse men who have sex with men (MSM), offering an opportunity for bundled health promotion interventions. Given MSM experience a heightened prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) and meningococcal disease, we examined their preferences for bundling rapid HIV testing with an intervention to promote vaccination against these infections. In 2020, we conducted five virtual focus groups (N = 25 participants) in English and Spanish with MSM in Southern California's Inland Empire. Participants discussed their knowledge about HPV and meningitis vaccination and attitudes toward receiving vaccination information and referrals during rapid HIV tests. We used the rigorous and accelerated data reduction technique to systematically analyse the data. Participants had a mean age of 30, were socioeconomically diverse, and predominantly (68%) Hispanic. 96% had ever been tested for HIV, while only 28% were vaccinated against HPV and/or meningitis. Most participants were unaware of MSM's elevated risk for HPV and meningitis and were eager to receive vaccination information from LGBTQ+-friendly providers. However, many participants emphasised rapid HIV testing was stressful and anticipated feeling overwhelmed if presented with vaccination information in this setting. Preferred formats for vaccine promotion included pamphlets and resources that could be discretely accessed online, supported by broader advertising featuring diverse MSM on social media, dating apps, and posters in the community. Overall, our findings suggest that bundling health promotion messages with rapid HIV testing may be ineffective, as the anxiety associated with taking an HIV test may interfere with such messages and their impact.

Psychology’s current focus on multiple identities views each identity as independent from one another. Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+ (LGBTQ+) community and those of the Latin@ community face a unique intersection. Members of the LGBTQ+ community are about two and-one-half times more likely than heterosexual cisgender men and women to have had a mental health disorder. They are also four times more likely to attempt suicide. Latinos are a high-risk group for depression, anxiety, and substance abuse and few of them contact mental health specialists. This study aims to explore whether a non-heterosexual/gender non-conforming identity comes into conflict with having a Latin@ identity. Less clear is how these two factors may intersect, thereby possibly increasing risk. Current measures only assess racism and heterosexism separately; there is no measure that expresses the unique ways that these types of oppressions intersect. Hence, this study utilizes a qualitative approach incorporating semi-structured interviews of participants to investigate the relationship between microaggressions and psychological well-being. The authors proposed that being Latin@ and LGBTQ+ poses a particularly problematic intersection which gives rise to identity conflict and possibly leaves an individual at greater risk for negative mental health outcomes. The findings support the hypothesis that stress focusing on the intersection of LGBTQ+ and Latin@ status was associated with increased feelings of depression. The qualitative data provided rich grounding in understanding the process by which these two factors are linked. The data also supported the authors’ secondary hypothesis that the challenges presented through these intersections allowed participants opportunities for the development of resiliency and empowerment. The contribution of the study represents an important step because of the stigmas associated with mental health, particularly within the respective communities being studied. The authors contend that this research contributes to providing a better understanding of how to begin to look at intersecting microaggressions as factors for maladjustment as well as suggests promising areas of inquiry regarding the development of resiliency

This study looks at the issues of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans* (LGBT) youth through a Queer Theory lens. Using Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), youth were given the opportunity to communicate issues relevant to their lives with Photovoice, a qualitative narrative assessment of their community. This study focuses on a Photovoice project with youth who attend Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) meetings in a Southern California high school. This study will be focusing on the SHOW portion of the SHOWED prompt

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of educational prevention program of tobacco and alcohol consumption in a sample of 134 students as experimental group and 104 students as control group. The hypotheses were: If after the intervention: H1 the self-esteem will be bigger in the experimental group than the control group. H2 the self-efficacy will be bigger in the experimental group than the control group. H3 the tobacco and alcohol consumption will be lesser in the experimental group than the control group. Methodology Quasi experimental design, the study was realized in series of time, with measurements before and after the program. The program was in teenagers who were first year at public junior highschool (2 groups) and a private junior high school (2 groups). The schools were selected of random form. The sampling was not probabilistic, because the intervention was applied in all students of the first years of selected junior high schools. Twelve session...

This study aimed to know the differences, if any, in the consumption of tobacco and alcohol among adolescents from urban and rural areas, and if self-esteem and self-efficacy are related to the consumption in these two groups of adolescents from secondary schools in urban and rural areas of Nuevo León México, from January to June in 2006. The study was based on the theoretical concepts of self-esteem, perceived self-efficacy and consumption of alcohol and tobacco. The design was descriptive and correlational with a sample of 359 students. A substantial difference was found in the consumption of tobacco among secondary students from urban and rural areas (U= 7513.50, p = .03). The average consumption in urban area was higher (average chi = .35) than in the rural area (average chi = .14). A negative and significant relation was found between the quantity of drinks consumed on a typical day and self-esteem (r s = - .23, p <.001), as well as for the quantity of cigarettes consumed on...