A paradigm for understanding trust and mistrust in medical research: The Community VOICES study.

BACKGROUND: To promote justice in research practice and rectify health disparities, greater diversity in research participation is needed. Lack of trust in medical research is one of the most significant obstacles to research participation. Multiple variables have been identified as factors associated with research participant trust/mistrust. A conceptual model that provides meaningful insight into the interplay of factors impacting trust may promote more ethical research practice and provide an enhanced, actionable understanding of participant mistrust. METHODS: A structured survey was developed to capture attitudes toward research conducted in emergency situations; this article focuses on items designed to assess respondents' level of trust or mistrust in medical research in general. Community-based interviews were conducted in English or Spanish with 355 New York City residents (white 42%, African American 29%, Latino 22%). RESULTS: Generally favorable attitudes toward research were expressed by a majority (85.3%), but many respondents expressed mistrust. Factor analysis yielded four specific domains of trust/mistrust, each of which was associated with different demographic variables: general trustworthiness (older age, not disabled); perceptions of discrimination (African American, Latino, Spanish language preference); perceptions of deception (prior research experience, African American); and perceptions of exploitation (less education). CONCLUSIONS: The four domains identified in the analysis provide a framework for understanding specific areas of research trust/mistrust among disparate study populations. This model offers a conceptual basis for the design of tailored interventions that target specific groups to promote trust of individual researchers and research institutions as well as to facilitate broader research participation.

Cross-cultural issues in prevention, health promotion, and risk reduction in adolescence.

The important roles that culture, race, and poverty play in contributing to health beliefs and health behaviors are reviewed in this chapter. It also outlines strategies for working with young people, their parents, and their communities in order to deliver "culturally effective" health care services, with an emphasis on prevention, health promotion, and risk reduction.

Prevalence and correlates of AIDS-related behavioral intentions among urban minority high school students.

Using data from a cross-sectional survey of 926 predominantly black and Hispanic ninth through twelfth graders in three New York City public high schools, the explanatory power of theoretically and empirically derived predictors (i.e., demographic, contextual, and cognitive) of intentions to engage in sexual intercourse, to be sexually monogamous, to use condoms during intercourse, and to ascertain intercourse partners' sexual and drug-use histories was compared. One-third of sampled students "definitely" intended to have sexual intercourse in the next year, one-half "definitely" intended to be sexually monogamous, two-thirds "definitely" intended to use condoms during intercourse, and three-quarters "definitely" intended to ascertain intercourse partners' sexual and drug-use histories. In a predictive model including all investigated variables, those variables derived from the cognitive set (i.e., beliefs about susceptibility to getting AIDS, and beliefs about barriers, self-efficacy, norms, and values pertaining to AIDS-preventive actions) were most strongly associated with the four investigated behavioral intentions. However, certain variables derived from the demographic set (i.e., age, gender, race/ethnicity) and contextual set (i.e., previous behavioral involvement, cues, academic failure, substance use) also contributed explained variance to all four intentions.

PIP: Cross-sectional survey data on 926 ninth-twelfth graders in three New York city public high schools were used in a comparison study of the explanatory power of theoretically and empirically derived predictors of intentions to engage in sexual intercourse, to be sexually monogamous, to use condoms during intercourse, and to ascertain intercourse partners' sexual and drug-use histories. Survey participants were of mean age 16.4 years in a range of 13-21, 41.4% male, 58.9% black, and 33.9% Hispanic. One-third definitely intended to have sexual intercourse within the next year, 50% definitely intended to be sexually monogamous, 66% definitely intended to use condoms during intercourse, and 75% definitely intended to get intercourse partners' sexual and drug-use histories. Compared to females, a far greater proportion of males planned to have sex within the next year, and a far smaller proportion intended to be monogamous. Beliefs about susceptibility to getting AIDS, and beliefs about barriers, self-efficacy, norms, and values pertaining to AIDS-preventive actions were most strongly associated with the four investigated behavioral intentions. Age, gender, ethnicity, previous behavioral involvement, cues, academic failure, and substance use also contributed to the explained variance in the four intentions.

Prevalence and correlates of AIDS-risk behaviors among urban minority high school students.

BACKGROUND: To guide the development of an AIDS prevention program for urban minority high school students, the authors investigated the prevalence of AIDS-risk behaviors, and the relative explanatory power of demographic, contextual, and cognitive correlates of these behaviors, among black and Hispanic students in three New York City public high schools. METHODS: A survey was administered to a randomly selected sample of classrooms in the 9th through 12th grades of three public academic high schools in a New York City borough. Survey participants (n = 926) were 59% black and 34% Hispanic; the mean age was 16.4 (sd 1.4) years. RESULTS: Two-thirds of students reported having had sexual intercourse. Of the more than one-half of students who reported past-year intercourse, three-quarters had never or had inconsistently used condoms, one-third had multiple intercourse partners, one-tenth had a sexually transmitted disease, and one-twentieth had intercourse with a high-risk partner. Demographic (i.e., age, race/ethnicity) and contextual (i.e., academic failure, substance use, adverse life circumstances, cues to prevention) factors were most strongly associated with involvement in AIDS-risk behaviors; in contrast, cognitive factors (i.e., knowledge and beliefs about AIDS and AIDS-preventive actions) had little explanatory power. CONCLUSIONS: Addressing demographic and contextual risk factors for involvement in AIDS-related behaviors may prove to be a more powerful AIDS-prevention strategy among adolescents than simply teaching facts about AIDS and fostering prevention-related beliefs.

Factors associated with AIDS-related behavioral intentions among high school students in an AIDS epicenter.

Using data from a cross-sectional survey of 531 predominantly black and Hispanic 10th graders in two New York City schools, the explanatory power of predictors of intentions to engage in sexual intercourse, to have multiple intercourse partners, and to use condoms was compared. Theoretically derived predictor variables (i.e., susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, self-efficacy, values, norms) were derived from the health belief model, social cognitive theory, and a model of social influence. One half of sampled students definitely intended to have sexual intercourse in the next year, one tenth definitely intended to have multiple partners, and two thirds definitely intended to use condoms. In multivariate analyses, variables derived from the model of social influence and from social cognitive theory were most strongly associated with the three investigated behavioral intentions; however, certain background and health belief variables also contributed to the explained variance in intercourse and multiple partner intentions.

Factors associated with AIDS risk behaviors among high school students in an AIDS epicenter.

BACKGROUND: A greater understanding of the determinants of risky behaviors is an essential precursor to the development of successful AIDS prevention programs for adolescents. METHODS: A survey measuring AIDS-related behaviors, beliefs, and knowledge was administered to a sample of 531 10th-grade students residing in an AIDS epicenter. RESULTS: Of the 56.8% of students reporting past-year involvement in sexual intercourse, 67.3% reported unprotected intercourse with low-risk partners, 1.3% reported unprotected intercourse with high-risk partners, and 6.6% reported a past-year history of a sexually transmitted disease. Students whose friends had intercourse and never or inconsistently used condoms, who personally sanctioned intercourse involvement, who believed that the majority of their peers had intercourse, and who perceived low preventive action self-efficacy, were 5.1, 3.0, 2.1, 3.7, and 2.8 times more likely, respectively, to score in the riskier categories of an AIDS behavior index. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that addressing socioenvironmental influences on risky and preventive behaviors may prove to be the most effective AIDS prevention strategy among adolescents.