A Five Step Process for Interactive Parent-Adolescent Communication About HIV Prevention: Advice from Parents Living With HIV/AIDS.

AIM: This study investigated how parents living with HIV communicated about HIV prevention with their 10-18 year old children. METHODS: Interviews with 76 mothers and fathers were analyzed for (1) their experiences discussing HIV prevention with adolescents, and (2) advice on how to best broach HIV-related topics. RESULTS: Interactive conversations, where both parents and adolescents participated, were regarded as effective. Parents emphasized that adolescents should have a "voice" (be able to voice their concerns) and a "choice" (have a variety of effective prevention strategies to choose from) during HIV-related talks. DISCUSSION: A five step process for interactive communication emerged as a result of these discussions. IMPLICATIONS: Health care professionals can facilitate adolescent sexual health by encouraging parents to actively involve their children in discussions about HIV prevention. CONCLUSION: Future HIV prevention programs could benefit by providing parents with appropriate tools to foster interactive discussions about sexual health with adolescents.

Communicating in complex situations: a normative approach to HIV-related talk among parents who are HIV+.

Parents with HIV/AIDS are confronted with unique challenges when discussing HIV-related information with their children. Strategies for navigating these challenges effectively have not been systematically examined. In this study, we conducted in-depth interviews with 76 parents with HIV/AIDS who had children ages 10-18 years. Guided by O'Keefe and Delia's definition of a complex communication situation and Goldsmith's normative approach to interpersonal communication, we examined parents' goals for discussing HIV-related information, factors that made conversations challenging, and instances where these conversational purposes conflicted with one another. Our data reveal the following parent-adolescent communication predicaments: relaying safety information about HIV while minimizing child anxiety, modeling open family communication without damaging one's parental identity, and balancing parent-child relational needs amid living with an unpredictable health condition. Parents also described a variety of strategies for mitigating challenges when discussing HIV-related topics. Strategies parents perceived as effective included reframing HIV as a chronic, manageable illness; keeping talk educational; and embedding HIV-related topics within more general conversations. The theoretical and practical applications of these findings are discussed with regard to their relevance to health communication scholars and HIV care professionals.

Facilitators and barriers to discussing HIV prevention with adolescents: perspectives of HIV-infected parents.

OBJECTIVES: We examined HIV-infected parents' conversations about HIV prevention with their uninfected children, including what facilitated or hindered communication. METHODS: Parents with HIV/AIDS (n = 90) who had children aged 10 to 18 years were recruited for a mixed method study from 2009 to 2010. Interviews assessed facilitators and barriers to discussing HIV prevention. A questionnaire identified the frequency and content of conversations, parental confidence level, and perceived importance of discussing preventive topics. RESULTS: Eighty-one percent of parents reported "sometimes" or "often" communicating about HIV prevention. A subset of parents found these conversations difficult; 44% indicated their desire for support. Facilitators to communication included utilizing support, focusing on the benefits of talking, and having a previous relationship with one's child. Barriers to discussions included fear of negative consequences, living in denial, and lacking a parental role model who discussed safer sex. Parents varied as to how they believed their HIV status affected communication. Those who did not disclose their HIV status to their children reported less frequent communication; self-efficacy partially mediated this relationship. CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlighted the need for communication skills training that support HIV-infected parents in their efforts to discuss HIV-related information with adolescents.

Adolescents carrying handguns and taking them to school: psychosocial correlates among public school students in Illinois.

The current study sought to examine psychosocial correlates of adolescents carrying a handgun and taking a handgun to school. Survey participants were approximately 22,000 6th, 8th, and 10th grade public school students from throughout Illinois. Results showed that the strongest correlates of handgun carrying behaviours were variables directly associated with handguns and violence, both behaviours and beliefs, as well as delinquency variables. These findings have many implications for intervention by parents, schools, and policy makers to reduce the incidence of adolescent handgun carrying and taking a handgun to school.