This study explored baseline levels of knowledge and attitude toward genetic testing (GT) for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer among Puerto Rican women. A secondary aim was to evaluate whether these factors differed between respondents in Puerto Rico and Tampa. Puerto Rican women with a personal or family history of breast or ovarian cancer who live in Puerto Rico (n=25) and Tampa (n=20) were interviewed. Both groups were interested in obtaining GT; women living in Puerto Rico were more likely to report they would get GT within 6 months (p=0.005). The most commonly cited barrier was cost; the most commonly cited facilitator was provider recommendation. There was no difference in overall knowledge between Tampa (M=5.15, SD=1.63) and Puerto Rico (M=5.00, SD=1.87) participants (p=0.78). Involving health care providers in recruitment and highlighting that GT may be available at minimal or no cost in the USA and Puerto Rico may facilitate participation.

The objective of this study was to culturally adapt and validate a scale to measure HIV-related felt stigma in a group of People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Puerto Rico. The researchers conducted a two-phase cross-sectional study with 216 participants (60, first phase; 156, second phase). The first phase consisted of the cultural adaptation of the scale; the second evaluated its psychometric properties. After conducting a factor analysis, a 17-item scale, the HIV Felt-Stigma Scale (HFSS), resulted. Participants completed the Puerto Rico Comprehensive Center for the Study of Health Disparities Socio-demographic Questionnaire, the HFSS, the Beck Depression Inventory-II, and the Sexual Abuse dimension of the History of Abuse Questionnaire; the case managers completed the Case Manager Stigma Guide with subjects. The HFSS measures four dimensions: personalized stigma, disclosure concerns, negative self-image, and concern with public attitudes. The alpha and Pearson correlation coefficients (0.91 and 0.68, respectively) indicated satisfactory validity and reliability; the scale suggested adequate convergent validity. The HFSS is a culturally sensitive instrument that fills the existing gap in the measurement of felt stigma in Spanish-speaking PLWHA.

ESEARCHERS IN THE FIELD OF DE-velopmental psychopathology have recognized the importance of building a database on children's behavioral and emotional problems prevalent in diverse nations. Several studies have compared U.S. children's problems with those of children in other regions of the world, including the

Using vignettes describing African American children with internalizing (e.g., withdrawal) versus externalizing (e.g., quarrels) problems, parents, teachers, and clinicians made judgments regarding problem seriousness, prognosis, etiology, referral, and intervention needs. Opinions of parents, teachers, and clinicians differed markedly, especially with regard to judgments about children with externalizing problems. Black raters' ratings significantly differed from those of Whites, especially for seriousness and prognostic judgments with regard to the problems. The findings suggest that interventionists who address problems that African American youth present should attend to the attitudes and judgments of adults who report on such problems. Clinicians can simultaneously harness appropriate judgments and attitudes and decrease counterproductive beliefs and behavior in their interventions with Black children.Child mental health referrals often involve problems that children exhibit or experience at various points in their development, but children's problems may vary according to factors such as ethnicity, gender, and the sociocultural

Though many studies have conclusively linked felt stigma and HIV, few have focused on the experiences of rejection felt by members of such socially marginalized groups as intravenous drug users (IDU) and sex workers (SW). Using focus groups, our study explored these experiences in 34 individuals (17 male UDUs and 17 female SWs) at risk of becoming infected with HIV, the objective being to discover why they engaged in maladaptive behaviors as a way of coping with felt stigma. We used deductive and inductive analysis to codify the resulting data. Concepts associated with the word stigma, emotional reactions to felt stigma, and the impact of felt stigma on self-schema helped elucidate how the internalization of felt stigma can lead to negative affective states and self-destructive behaviors (e.g., drug use and syringe exchange). Results underline the importance of developing intervention models that reduce stigma as a means of HIV prevention in vulnerable populations.

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