College students' perceptions of telemental health to address their mental health needs.

Objective: To understand the feasibility of using telehealth for mental health services among college students. Participants: College students (N = 16) attending a university in Southern California, 18 years or older, and living in the residential halls. Methods: Two face-to-face semi-structured focus groups were conducted using a semi-structured moderator guide. Written consent and a demographic survey were completed. Descriptive thematic analysis was conducted independently by members of the research team. Results: Participants reported mixed feelings about their level of comfort using technology to access mental health services. Some participants acknowledged the value of using technology, while many voiced issues of distrust and privacy, in addition to the loss of empathy and personal connection with the mental health practitioner. Conclusion: Offering a menu of telehealth options including a hybrid approach (in-person/telehealth) may be necessary to address the issues of comfort, privacy, and trust to effectively reach college students with technology-based mental health services.

Empowering the Latino Community Related to Palliative Care and Chronic Disease Management through Promotores de Salud (Community Health Workers).

Background: Latinos are the largest minority group in the United States and when compared with non-Latino whites suffer from higher rates of certain chronic diseases. Latino community health workers (promotores de salud) are successful in improving the health of their communities. However, evidence of their effectiveness in increasing awareness of palliative care (PC) is limited. Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of applying a promotores de salud model to improve PC awareness among Latinos within the context of chronic disease management. Methods: Bilingual promotores from Familias en Acción trained 76 southern California promotores on PC and chronic disease management. Promotores agreed to disseminate the information learned to 10+ Latino community members. The strengths of the curriculum and the community's needs were identified during phone interviews six months post-training. Results: In 406 diverse settings, 69 promotores trained 2734 community members. Interviews with promotores at follow-up established four themes: (1) holistic health in chronic disease management; (2) communication with doctors; (3) shared decision making, patients' rights, and control; and (4) need for PC information (awareness, access, and support groups). Conclusion:Promotores proved effective at disseminating information related to PC within chronic disease management to Latino community members. Future training should include information on support groups and where caregivers can seek help while caring for those with a terminal disease.

Engaging Intergenerational Hispanics/Latinos to Examine Factors Influencing Childhood Obesity Using the PRECEDE-PROCEED Model.

Introduction Hispanics/Latinos are disproportionately affected by obesity in the U.S. Multiple factors place Hispanic/Latino children at risk for overweight, warranting guidance of a socio-ecologic approach to examine causes of obesity. The purpose of this study was to increase understanding of the factors that influence Hispanic/Latino childhood obesity through an intergenerational lens including children, parents/caregivers, and grandparents. Methods Eight focus groups were conducted with Hispanics/Latinos (N = 68 adults, N = 22 youth), using a semi-structured moderator's guide. Audio-recordings were transcribed, and thematically analyzed. Findings were categorized within the PRECEDE-PROCEED planning model. Results Adult participants were middle-aged (M = 37.8 ± 9.8 years) and youth were between the ages of 10-17 (M = 14.0 ± 1.8 years). Six themes emerged: eating habits, cultural perceptions of weight, acculturation, childhood obesity perceptions, economic issues, and generational differences. The major parental influence was lack of time to provide healthy meals due to socio-economic factors: long work hours and availability of nearby fast food options. Youth shared that childhood obesity is due to sedentary behaviors, permissive parenting and lack of parental modeling (the latter two factors often exacerbated by extended work schedules). Discussion Discordant perceptions about unhealthy eating habits emerged. Adults expressed a lack of nutritional knowledge and skills to prepare healthy meals; while adolescents emphasized permissive parenting styles and lack of discipline lead to unhealthy lifestyles in Hispanic families. Findings emphasize involving parents/caregivers and youth to understand discordant perceptions that can inform the development of prevention programs.

Community-academic partnerships in HIV-related research: a systematic literature review of theory and practice.

INTRODUCTION: Community involvement in HIV research has increased over recent years, enhancing community-academic partnerships. Several terms have been used to describe community participation in research. Clarification is needed to determine whether these terms are synonymous or actually describe different research processes. In addition, it remains unclear if the role that communities play in the actual research process follows the recommendations given in theoretical frameworks of community-academia research. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to review the existing terms and definitions regarding community-academic partnerships and assess how studies are implementing these in relation to conceptual definitions. METHODS: A systematic literature review was conducted in PubMed. Two reviewers independently assessed each article, applying the following inclusion criteria: the article must be published in English before 2013; it must provide an explicit definition and/or defining methodology for a term describing research with a community component; and it has to refer to HIV or AIDS, reproductive health and/or STDs. When disagreements about the relevance of an article emerged, a third reviewer was involved until concordance was reached. Data were extracted by one reviewer and independently verified by a second. Qualitative data were analyzed using MaxQDA for content and thematic analyses while quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Community feedback on data analysis and presentation of results was also incorporated. RESULTS: In total, 246 articles were retrieved, 159 of which fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The number of studies that included community participation in the field of HIV research increased between 1991 and 2012, and the terms used to describe these activities have changed, moving away from action research (AR) to participatory action research (PAR), community-based research (CBR) and community-based participatory research (CBPR), with the latter being the most commonly used term. While definitions of all terms had common characteristics (e.g. participation of community in research process), they varied with regard to the emphasis placed on these characteristics. The nature of community participation in reviewed studies differed considerably from that described in theoretical models. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates the increase of participatory approaches in HIV research and underlines the need for clarification of terms and a framework providing orientation to community-academia partnerships.

Increasing HIV-related knowledge, communication, and testing intentions among Latinos: Protege tu Familia: Hazte la Prueba.

Latinos are less likely to be aware of their HIV seropositivity than African Americans and Whites. 'Protege tu Familia: Hazte la Prueba' is a culturally and linguistically-sensitive HIV/AIDS prevention and testing program targeting Latino families. Using community-based participatory research techniques, Spanish-speaking bicultural community health workers helped develop and then used an educational flip chart and materials to conduct outreach and HIV prevention education in diverse settings. The intervention was created to increase HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, to improve communication regarding sexual risk, and to augment intentions to use condoms and test for HIV. A secondary purpose was to decrease HIV-related stigma by improving knowledge about transmission and reducing homophobia. Participants demonstrated significant increases in HIV knowledge, intention to practice safer sex and communicate sexual risk to partner(s), and intention to test for HIV. Improvements were also found in self-reported comfort levels when interacting with and caring for the HIV positive, thus decreasing HIV/AIDS-related stigma.