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Although the overall prevalence of HAART has increased since the mid-1990s, demographic disparities in HAART receipt persist. Our results support attempts to increase access to care and frequency of outpatient visits for underutilizing groups as well as increased efforts to reduce persistent disparities in women, African Americans, and injection drug users (IDUs).

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Although past research has emphasized considerable strain and institutional biases for female academics balancing work and family, research on male academics with young children is limited. This qualitative study addressed this void by examining how junior male tenure-track faculty with children negotiated work and family responsibilities. Analysis of in-depth interviews (n ϭ 12) revealed three broad, nonoverlapping themes regarding men's negotiation of their various roles. These themes included (a) tenure and family balance/conflict; (b) coping responses; and (c) attitudes toward policy and work culture. Prototypical quotes are used as illustrations of subthemes found within each of the three general categories. Respondents negotiated their multiple responsibilities by using compartmentalization strategies, significant time management, communicating with spouses and peers at work, and overextending themselves in work and family responsibilities, though with little knowledge or utilization of university policies that could ease their considerable workload and conflicts. The results are discussed within the context of research on men's work and family lives as well as departmental culture and institutional policies.

Background Technology-assisted clinical interventions are increasingly common in the health care field, often with the proposed aim to improve access to and cost-effectiveness of care. Current technology platforms delivering interventions are largely mobile apps and online websites, although efforts have been made to create more personalized and embodied technology experiences. To extend and improve on these platforms, the field of robotics has been increasingly included in conversations of how to deliver technology-assisted, interactive, and responsive mental health and psychological well-being interventions. Socially assistive robots (SARs) are robotic technology platforms with audio, visual, and movement capabilities that are being developed to interact with individuals socially while also assisting them with management of their physical and psychological well-being. However, little is known about the empirical evidence or utility of using SARs in mental health interventions. Objective The review synthesizes and describes the nascent empirical literature of SARs in mental health research and identifies strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement in future research and practice. Methods Searches in Medline, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, PubMed, and IEEE Xplore yielded 12 studies included in the final review after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. Abstract and full-text reviews were conducted by two authors independently. Results This systematic review of the literature found 5 distinct SARs used in research to investigate the potential for this technology to address mental health and psychological well-being outcomes. Research on mental health applications of SARs focuses largely on elderly dementia patients and relies on usability pilot data with methodological limitations. Conclusions The current SARs research in mental health use is limited in generalizability, scope, and measurement of psychological outcomes. Opportunities for expansion of research in this area include diversifying populations studied, SARs used, clinical applications, measures used, and settings for those applications.

Self-compassion, a relatively new but increasingly popular alternative to self-esteem, has been found to vary by gender, with men reporting greater levels than women. The current study furthers this emerging area of inquiry by addressing the relationships among conformity to masculine norms, trait shame, self-esteem, and self-compassion for 145 heterosexual men. Results demonstrated that higher levels of self-compassion were related to lower masculine norm adherence, lower trait shame, and higher self-esteem. In addition, 2 significant interactions emerged, with shame moderating the relation between masculine norm adherence and both self-esteem and self-compassion. These findings highlight the complex interdependence between emotional disposition and gender orientation in men's self-concepts.

Peer support groups, also known as "self-help groups," provide a unique tool for helping veterans working through the military-to-civilian transition to achieve higher levels of social support and community integration. The number and variety of community-based peer support groups has grown to the point that there are now more visits to these groups each year than to mental health professionals. The focus of these groups on the provision of social support, the number and variety of groups, the lack of cost, and their availability in the community make them a natural transition tool for building community-based social support. A growing literature suggests that these groups are associated with measurable improvements in social support, clinical symptoms, self-efficacy and coping. For clinical populations, the combination of peer support groups and clinical care results in better outcomes than either alone. Given this evidence, we suggest clinical services use active referral strategies to help veterans engage in peer support groups as a means of improving community reintegration and clinical outcomes. Finally, suggestions for identifying appropriate peer support groups and assisting with active referrals are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record

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