Beyond community engagement: perspectives on the meaningful involvement of people with HIV and affected communities (MIPA) in HIV cure research in The Netherlands.

BACKGROUND: Meaningful involvement of people with HIV and affected communities in HIV cure research is essential to ensuring that cure research efforts are conducted transparently, socially justly, and ethically. This study set out to investigate how people with HIV and affected communities are involved in cure research in the Netherlands and explore what can be done to optimize involvement and engagement. METHODS: Eighty-five semi-structured online, telephone, and face-to-face interviews were conducted with people with HIV (N = 30), key populations (N = 35), and key informants (KI; N = 20) in the field of HIV. The interviews were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Awareness of the meaningful involvement of people with HIV (MIPA) efforts was low among people with HIV and key populations, which contrasted with KI, who exhibited greater awareness. People with HIV and KI emphasized the importance of MIPA in ensuring the representation of lived experiences in HIV cure research and fostering trust between communities and researchers. Practical implementations of MIPA were unclear, ultimately resulting in difficulties defining MIPA beyond clinical trial participation. People with HIV and key populations also doubted their skills and self-efficacy to make meaningful contributions when confronted with involvement beyond participating in research and clinical trials. CONCLUSIONS: MIPA is crucial for improving the quality, transparency, and ethical conduct of HIV cure research. It emphasizes the need for increased awareness and funding, standardized guidelines to ensure meaningful involvement, and combat tokenism and misconceptions.

Engagement of HIV-negative MSM and partners of people with HIV in HIV cure (research): exploring the influence of perceived severity, susceptibility, benefits, and concerns.

ABSTRACTAs the prospect of an HIV cure is gaining prominence, engaging key populations affected by an HIV cure becomes essential. This study examined the engagement of HIV-negative men who have sex with men (MSM) and/or partners of people with HIV (PHIV) in the Netherlands. Interviews were conducted with 19 MSM not in relationships with a partner with HIV and 16 partners of PHIV and were thematically analyzed. Perspectives on the importance of an HIV cure were shaped by the perceived severity of HIV and the level of susceptibility to the virus. Despite concerns about potential new HIV infections and treatment intensity, most participants believed that an HIV cure could reduce HIV burden. Both HIV eradication and HIV suppression were regarded as acceptable outcomes. Engagement was demonstrated through actions like accessing information, participating in research, and showing support for partners or community members involved in HIV cure research. In conclusion, we found that most participants were engaged due to their heightened perception of HIV's severity. However, this engagement tended to remain passive due to their perceived low susceptibility to HIV, resulting in a scenario where the perceived importance of an HIV cure is high, while personal relevance remains low.

Interventions to Prevent Intimate Partner Violence: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) remains a global health and human rights problem. This systematic review assesses the effects of preventive interventions on the occurrence of IPV experience or perpetration. Twenty-six studies published between January 1, 2008 and March 31, 2022 were included, contributing 91 effect sizes. Multilevel meta-analysis showed a protective pooled effect (risk ratio = 0.85, 95% CI [0.77, 0.99]). Interventions (also) including men were more effective than interventions for women only. No other moderators were found. Findings underscore that various IPV prevention interventions are now available that can improve the health and rights of women in diverse settings.

The Importance of Social Engagement in the Development of an HIV Cure: A Systematic Review of Stakeholder Perspectives.

As research into the development of an HIV cure gains prominence, assessing the perspectives of stakeholders becomes imperative. It empowers stakeholders to determine priorities and influence research processes. We conducted a systematic review of the empirical literature on stakeholder perspectives. PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched for empirical, peer-reviewed articles, published before September 2022. Our analysis of 78 papers showed that stakeholders could be divided into three categories: people with HIV, key populations, and professionals. Following thematic synthesis, two main themes were distinguished: stakeholders' perspectives on HIV cure research and stakeholders' perspectives on HIV cure. Research on perspectives on HIV cure research showed that stakeholders' hypothetical willingness to participate (WTP) in HIV cure research was relatively high, while actual WTP was found to be lower. Studies also identified associated (individual) characteristics of hypothetical WTP, as well as facilitators and barriers to hypothetical participation. Additionally, we reported research on experiences of actual HIV cure research participation. Our analysis of stakeholder perceptions of HIV cure showed that most stakeholders preferred a cure that could eliminate HIV and outlined positive associated impacts. Furthermore, we observed that most included studies were conducted among PWHIV, and in the Global North. To empower stakeholders, we recommend that future research include an even greater diversity of stakeholders and incorporate theories of behavior to further explore how stakeholders decide to meaningfully engage in every stage of HIV cure research.

How Parents' Ideals are Offset by Uncertainty and Fears: A Systematic Review of the Experiences of European Parents regarding the Sexual Education of Their Children.

Parents have a critical role to play in the sexual education of their children. We conducted a systematic review of studies assessing the experiences of parents regarding the role they play in the sexual education of their children. We included qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods studies conducted among parents in Europe. We searched PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus, and screened 20,244 unique records. Forty-nine studies enrolling 18,083 unique parents met inclusion criteria. The studies show that parents have ideals regarding the sexual education of their children that center around the importance of trust, open conversations, and honesty. However, challenges and concerns, related to parents' and children's gender, children's age, children's specific situations, and limited parental knowledge and communication skills prevented them from living up to these ideals. Parents pointed to the role of other institutions as ways to support and strengthen parents' contributions to the sexual development of their children. We conclude that parents may require guidance and support to identify what is appropriate sexual education for their children, based on age, gender, and other characteristics, how to provide appropriate sexual education, and to strengthen their sexual communication skills and knowledge of contemporary sexual health issues.