Peer-led interventions to reduce HIV risk of youth: A review

One approach in HIV prevention programming targeting youth is to use peer leaders in what is referred to as peer education programming. This paper critically reviews and synthesizes the results and lessons learned from 24 evaluated peer-led programs with an HIV/AIDS risk reduction component that target youth in the communities where they live and are delivered in low- and middle-income countries. Interventions were identified through a comprehensive search of the peer reviewed AIDS-related literature as well as publication lists of major organizations in the UN family that address HIV and AIDS. Our synthesis of study results finds that these programs have demonstrated success in effecting positive change in knowledge and condom use and have demonstrated some success in changing community attitudes and norms. Effects on other sexual behaviors and STI rates were equivocal. We include an overview of characteristics of successful programs, a review of program limitations, and recommendations for the development and implementation of successful community-based peer-led programs in low-income countries.     

Electronic cigarette and combustible cigarette use following a campus-wide ban: Prevalence of use and harm perceptions

Abstract

The current study examined changes in prevalence of e-cigarette use and perceptions of the harmfulness of e-cigarette and combustible cigarettes following a campus-wide tobacco ban. Undergraduate students completed surveys of tobacco use and perceived product harmfulness. Four samples were collected: in 2013 prior to the ban (n?=?792) and in fall 2014 (n?=?310), 2015 (n?=?208), and 2016 (n?=?417). E-cigarette use increased in the years following the ban (p?=?.01) while combustible cigarette use decreased from 2013 to 2016 (p?=?.02). Men were more likely than women to use both products (ps?<?.05). Students’ perceptions of the harmfulness of combustible and electronic cigarettes remained stable in the years following the ban (p?>?.05). This study is the first to examine the impact of including e-cigarettes in tobacco free policies. Combustible cigarette use declined, but e-cigarette use increased in the years following the e-cigarette ban. Prospective research is needed to understand the long-term impacts of e-cigarette bans.     

Subjective evaluations of alcohol-related consequences among college students: Experience with consequences matters

Objective: Research suggests college students rate some alcohol-related consequences less negatively than others, yet it is unclear how or when these differences in perception develop. The current study compared college students' subjective evaluations of alcohol-related consequences that they had and had not experienced in order to test the hypothesis that students become desensitized to the consequences they experience. Participants: Participants were 269 undergraduate students enrolled at a large, public, Midwestern university. Methods: Participants completed measures of drinking behaviors, consequences experienced, and subjective evaluations of consequences via an online survey. Results: Participants rated the consequences they had personally experienced more positively than those they had not experienced. Similarly, individuals who reported experiencing consequences rated them as significantly more positive than those who had not experienced the same consequences. Conclusions: Experience with consequences is associated with more positive evaluations of those consequences. Therefore, it may be important to consider individuals' experiences with, and evaluations of, alcohol-related consequences in college student drinking interventions.     

Work Activation Regimes and Well‐being of Unemployed People: Rhetoric,Risk and Reality of Quasi‐Marketization in the UK Work Programme

Well‐being and employment activation have become central and intertwined policy priorities across advanced economies, with the mandation of unemployed claimants towards employability interventions (e.g. curriculum vitae preparation and interview skills). Compelled job search and job transitions are in part justified by the well‐being gains that resulting employment is said to deliver. However, this dominant focus within the activation field on outcome well‐being – the well‐being improvement triggered by a transition to paid work – neglects how participation in activation schemes can itself affect well‐being levels for unemployed people – what we term ‘process well‐being’ effects. Combining theoretical literature with empirical work on the UK's large‐scale quasi‐marketized Work Programme activation scheme, we develop the limited existing academic discussion of process well‐being effects, considering whether and how activation participation mediates the negative well‐being effects of unemployment, irrespective of any employment outcomes. We further relate variation in such process well‐being effects to the literature on activation typologies, in which ‘thinner’ work‐first activation interventions are linked to weaker process well‐being effects for participants compared to ‘thicker’ human capital development interventions. Confirming these expectations, our empirical work shows that Work Programme participants have, to date, experienced a largely ‘thin’ activation regime in which participants are both expected to, and empirically demonstrate, similar if not lower levels of process well‐being than those who are openly unemployed. These concerning findings speak to all nations seeking to promote the well‐being of unemployed people and particularly those perusing ‘black box’ activation schemes based around quasi‐marketization, devolution and New Public Management.     

Managing staged policy implementation: Balancing short-term needs and long-term goals

This study focuses on the agency of governments engaged in implementation processes that take place over a number of years and through multiple stages. The long timeframes associated with staged implementation leave reforms vulnerable to the institutional effects that may ultimately derail policy aspirations. Governments engaged in staged implementation need to be able to plan longitudinally (foresight capacity) and analyse whether implementation processes are creating endogenous sources of institutional change and the likely impact of such change (reflective capacity). In this paper, we argue that being able to exercise foresight capacity and reflective capacity is necessary but not sufficient, if long-term policy goals are to be realised. Governments must also be able to navigate the inconsistent objectives that arise across the different stages of an implementation process by modifying implementation approaches in ways that reduce the likelihood of unwanted implementation effects occurring—what we have labelled “mitigation capacity.”     

‘We need to understand what’s going on because it’s our life’: Using sandboxing to understand children and young people’s everyday conversations about care

Children and young people who live away from birth families (through adoption or being in care) need an understanding of their life story, including reasons for removal from birth family to process what has happened to them and to develop a secure identity. We report data produced with care experienced children and young people using a creative sandboxing method capturing hopes and fears for conversations about care in sand scenes. The themes presented emphasise the need for care-experienced children and young people to be supported to engage in ‘difficult conversations’ about their lives in warm, open and responsive ways.     

Public attitudes toward genetic testing

This article, which reports the results of a telephone survey of a national sample of the adult US population, was designed as a first measure of attitudes in an area likely to undergo significant change over the next few years. Among the major findings: (1) First, attitudes toward prenatal testing are overwhelmingly favorable at this time, with about two thirds of the respondents saying they would want to undergo such tests themselves (or would want their partner to do so) and believing that the tests will do more good than harm. (2) Second, information about the new technology is not yet widely dispersed in society, and knowledge is unrelated to attitudes in any of the areas we measured. (3) Third, attitudes toward testing for genetic defects and attitudes toward abortion if tests are positive appear to be quite distinct so far. (4) Fourth, the particular conception of genetic defects held by the respondent influences preferences for abortion but not preferences for testing. (5) Fifth, testing for fetal sex clearly falls outside the pale of acceptable behavior at this time, but not if the couple already has three offspring of the same sex.     

“Wearing a Mask Won't Protect Us from Our History”: The Impact of COVID-19 on Black Children and Families

The data on COVID-19 show an irrefutable and disturbing pattern: Black Americans are contracting and dying from COVID-19 at rates that far exceed other racial and ethnic groups. Due to historical and current iterations of racism, Black Americans have been forced into conditions that elevate their risk for COVID-19 and consequently place Black children at the epicenter of loss across multiple domains of life. The current paper highlights the impact of the pandemic on Black children at the individual, family, and school levels. Based on an understanding of the influence of structural racism on COVID-19 disparities, policy recommendations are provided that focus on equitable access to quality education, home ownership, and employment to fully address the needs of Black children and families during and after the pandemic. Research, practice, and policy recommendations are made to journal editors, funding agencies, grant review panels, and researchers regarding how research on COVID-19 should be framed to inform intervention efforts aimed at improving the situation of Black children and families.