HIV and Sexual Health Services Available to Sexual and Gender Minority Youth Seeking Care at Outpatient Public Mental Health Programs in Two California Counties

[Public Health Policies for Youth - Bibliometric Study and Research Agenda based on the Web of Science]

The scope of this research outlines the field of study on public health policies for youth supported by bibliometric maps, from the perspective of identifying research gaps. VOSviewer software was used based on the exploratory-descriptive profile, with data located in October 2021, using the key words "public", "youth", "health" with the connecting "and", which resulted in 172 articles. The following groupings were located: co-authorship by country; co-authorship by key words; co-quote by article; co-quote by reference cited; bibliographic coupling; co-quote of authors. The results reveal an interdisciplinary field, represented by studies in the areas of education, social work, law, and social sciences, with a significant recurrence of the themes of mental health, violence, and obesity, as well as discussions on substance use and abuse, such as cigarette smoking for example. Debates about the social configuration, defined by the idea of community, as well as its prevalence and prevention are present in the scope of these studies. Finally, eight research agenda topics are derived from the discussion about the growing movement towards health promotion as a public policy, while socio-economic and cultural aspects are presented with greater emphasis, in the quest to understand the impacts of this scenario for youth.

Future Directions in Mental Health Treatment with Stigmatized Youth

Stigma refers to societally-deemed inferiority associated with a circumstance, behavior, status, or identity. It manifests internally, interpersonally, and structurally. Decades of research indicate that all forms of stigma are associated with heightened risk for mental health problems (e.g., depression, PTSD, suicidality) in stigmatized youth (i.e., children, adolescents, and young adults with one or more stigmatized identities, such as youth of Color and transgender youth). Notably, studies find that stigmatized youth living in places with high structural stigma - defined as laws/policies and norms/attitudes that hurt stigmatized people - have a harder time accessing mental health treatment and are less able to benefit from it. In order to reduce youth mental health inequities, it is imperative for our field to better understand, and ultimately address, stigma at each of these levels. To facilitate this endeavor, we briefly review research on stigma and youth mental health treatment, with an emphasis on structural stigma, and present three future directions for research in this area: (1) directly addressing stigma in treatment, (2) training therapists in culturally responsive care, and (3) structural interventions. We conclude with recommendations for best practices in broader mental health treatment research.

Multifactorial Correlates of Incident Bacterial Sexually Transmitted Infections Among Black Men Who Have Sex With Men Recruited in 6 US Cities (HIV Prevention Trials Network 061)

BACKGROUND

Black men who have sex with men are at a disproportionate risk for sexually transmitted infections (STI). Understanding the drivers of those disparities can lead to culturally tailored interventions. We aimed to characterize the incidence and correlates of STI among Black individuals from HIV Prevention Trials Network 061, a multicity cohort study conducted from 2009 to 2011 in the United States.

METHODS

We used Cox proportional hazards regression to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) accounting for within-participant correlation over multiple follow-up visits (enrollment, 6 and 12 months). We examined correlates of incident rectal and urethral STI as well as incident syphilis.

RESULTS

Among 1522 individuals, the incidences of urethral and rectal Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection were 1.0 (95% confidence interval, 0.6-1.8) and 4.6 (95% CI, 3.5-6.3) cases per 100 person-years, respectively. The incidences of urethral and rectal Chlamydia trachomatis infection were 2.5 (95% CI, 1.7-3.6) and 2.5 (95% CI, 1.7-3.7) cases per 100 person-years, respectively. The incidence of syphilis was 3.6 (95% CI, 2.7-4.9) cases per 100 person-years. Younger age was associated with increased odds of incident urethral (aHR, 5.1; 95% CI, 2.3-11.1) and rectal (aHR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.6-4.3) STI. Diagnosis of a rectal STI at baseline (aHR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.1-4.0) and use of saliva as lubricant (aHR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.1-2.8) were associated with incident rectal STI. Diagnosis of syphilis at baseline was associated with incident syphilis during follow-up (aHR, 5.6; 95% CI, 2.5-12.2).

CONCLUSIONS

Younger participants had the highest STI incidence. Use of saliva as lubricant may be a driver of rectal infection, which deserves further study.