Articles: interviews.
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J Consult Clin Psychol · Feb 1993
African-American adolescents' knowledge, health-related attitudes, sexual behavior, and contraceptive decisions: implications for the prevention of adolescent HIV infection.
African-American adolescents (N = 195) completed measures of knowledge related to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), attitudes toward condoms, health locus of control, vulnerability to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, peer sexual norms, personal sexual behavior for the past 6 months, and contraceptive preferences. Hotelling's T2 tests revealed that girls were more knowledgeable about AIDS, reported fewer sexual partners, held more positive attitudes toward precautionary sexual behavior, and perceived themselves to have greater self-control than boys. Five variables accounted for 44% of the variance in condom use: condom use from the 1st intercourse occasion, earlier grade in school, lower belief in an external locus of control, and higher scores on the Effect on Sexual Experience and Self-Control subscales of the Condom Attitude Scale. Implications for the content, format, and timing of HIV prevention with African-American adolescents are discussed.
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Female sexual partners of injection drug users are at risk for AIDS because of their association with street drug cultures and all their concomitant risks, including their own non-injecting drug use. This study examines a model of the social determinants of HIV-associated sexual risk behaviors. ⋯ The findings show that crack cocaine use is the strongest contributor to the model, which explains fourteen percent of the variance of sexual risk behavior. The findings suggest that the risks associated with sexual practices are much greater for crack cocaine users than among non users of crack.
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To explore the somewhat controversial relationship between oral contraceptives and pre-invasive cervical cancer, 103 cases of biopsy-confirmed cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) II or CIN III were compared with 258 controls who had normal cervical cytology. Cases were slightly less likely than controls to have ever used oral contraceptives; the odds ratio, controlling for age, socioeconomic status, barrier method use, smoking history, age at first sexual intercourse, number of sex partners, current marital status, and number of Pap smears, was 0.7 (95% CI 0.3-1.6). ⋯ This study adds to the body of knowledge that oral contraceptives are not associated with pre-invasive cervical cancer. Further, if oral contraceptive users continue to be regularly screened, their risk of developing the more invasive lesions should be very low.
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Recent advances in educational theory and methodology have made it possible to teach medical interviewing with as much rigor as other clinical skills. We describe a first-semester, first-year medical student course that effectively teaches basic interviewing skills. ⋯ Use of audiotape and videotape reviews enhances the learning experience. This article describes our course, suggests educational principles and standards for the teaching of medical interviewing, and presents educational research demonstrating significant gains in students' skills associated with improvement in standardized patient satisfaction.
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This study evaluates the effect of a nurse training program in family planning counseling skills on the quality of service delivery at the clinic level, as well as its impact on client compliance with prearranged appointments. The study used a quasi-experimental design to compare certified nurses who received six weeks of family planning technical training with certified nurses who, in addition to the technical training course, received a three-day course in counseling skills. ⋯ The likelihood that clients will attend follow-up visits was also found to improve when they were attended by trained professionals. Short-term counseling training can significantly improve the quality of care provided by family planning workers, as well as client compliance with follow-up appointments.