PUBLICATION HIGHTLIGHTS

Kate Merrill, PhD and colleagues published preliminary outcomes from the IMARA South Africa pilot. The authors examined the preliminary effectiveness and implementation outcomes of Informed, Motivated, Aware, and Responsible Adolescents and Adults—South Africa (IMARA-SA), an evidence-based intervention for South African AGYW (15–19 years) and their female caregivers.  Primary outcomes were HIV Testing and Counselling (HTC) uptake, STI incidence (gonorrhea, chlamydia), and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake. Secondary outcomes were self-reported sexual risk behavior (condom use at last sex, [...]

Julie Bobitt, PhD and colleagues explored the use of cannabis among older Veterans. Their results showed older Veterans are using medical cannabis as a means of harm reduction as an adjunct or substitute for other medications and substances with limited guidance from their healthcare providers. Veterans also reported that there exists an inconsistency across the Veterans Health Administration system regarding the interpretation and application of cannabis policies. Drawing from these [...]

Ashley Kendall, PhD recently published an article, "Introducing a real-time method for identifying the predictors of non-compliance with event-based reporting of tobacco use in ecological momentary assessment" in Annals of Behavioral Medicine. This study introduced a real-time method for identifying person- and moment-level predictors of failing to self-initiate tobacco event reports during ecological momentary assessment (EMA), and for capturing a large number of events that would have likely otherwise been [...]

CDIS Faculty Affiliate, Natasha Crooks, PhD and colleagues published a paper, "Barriers to PrEP uptake among Black female adolescents and emerging adults" in Preventative Medicine Reports. The purpose of this paper is to understand the characteristics of age, race, gender, history, and medical mistrust as barriers to Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake among Black female adolescents and emerging adults between the ages of 13-24 years in Chicago. The most commonly identified [...]

CDIS Faculty Affiliate, Angela Kong, PhD, MPH, RDN and colleagues published the "Facilitators and Barriers to Implementation and Sustainability of Nutrition and Physical Activity Interventions in Early Childcare Settings: a Systematic Review" in Prevention Science. The purpose of this systematic review was to synthesize existing research on facilitators and barriers to implementation and sustainability of nutrition and physical activity interventions in early childcare settings targeting 2-5-year-old children, including considerations for equitable [...]

Ashley Kendall, PhD has received funding from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health to conduct a Feasibility Trial of a Mindfulness-based mHealth Intervention to Mitigate the Effects of Chronic Workplace Stress among Juvenile Justice Officers. Juvenile justice officers (JJOs) face high chronic workplace stress. This stress is implicated in a constellation of adverse outcomes underpinned by emotion dysregulation: depression, anxiety, and workplace burnout. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) target emotion [...]