Perspectives on a community-based course for public health students.

In recent years, there has been an increase in collaborations between universities and local community agencies. During the 2005-2006 academic year, the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health began a community-university partnership with Hosanna House Inc., a local community service center. The initial phase of this partnership included holding a departmental community development course at the community service center. Information from student journals, course evaluations, and key informant interviews were used to describe the attitudes and perspectives of the students, course instructor, and key informants toward this experience. Overall, this experience positively affected the personal and professional development of the students and was well received by faculty and staff within the academic department and community service center. The authors anticipate that this information will promote and serve as a reference for similar community-university partnerships at other schools of public health.

Risk factors and consequences of unwanted sex among university students: hooking up, alcohol, and stress response.

This is the first study of unwanted sexual experiences in the collegiate "hooking-up" culture. In a representative sample of 178 students at a small liberal arts university. Twenty-three percent of women and 7% of men surveyed reported one or more experiences of unwanted sexual intercourse. Seventy-eight percent of unwanted vaginal, anal, and oral incidents took place while--"hooking up,"--whereas 78% of unwanted fondling incidents occurred at parties or bars. The most frequently endorsed reason for unwanted sexual intercourse was impaired judgment due to alcohol. The most frequently endorsed reason for unwanted fondling was that it happened before the perpetrator could be stopped. Of those affected by unwanted sexual intercourse or unwanted fondling, 46.7% and 19.2% reported unwanted memories, 50% and 32.7% reported avoidance and numbing responses, and 30% and 26.9% reported hyperarousal responses, respectively. A preliminary model of unwanted sex and collegiate social dynamics is proposed to provide a heuristic for further research.