Background: Black adolescent girls, are often viewed as a homogenous group with Black adolescent boys in prevention research, thus ignoring unique gender-racial specific protective factors to drug use and sexual risk behavior. Using empowerment theory and intersectionality as a framework, this study examines the role of ethnic identity, social support, and psychological empowerment on drug use and sexual risk behavior among a sample of Black adolescent girls.

Methods: The study uses a sample of (N= 340) Black adolescents girls who reside in a northeastern urban community in New Jersey. Participants were between the ages of 14–17 years old. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesized model of the mediating role of drug use on sexual risk behavior among this sample.

Results: Findings revealed that drug use significantly mediated the relationship between social support, ethnic identity, and psychological empowerment on sexual risk behavior, with ethnic identity having the strongest relationship. Social support, ethnic identity, and psychological empowerment had a significant negative association with drug use and sexual risk behavior.

Discussion: Findings from this study can contribute to development of culturally appropriate and innovative strategies to reduce risky behaviors among Black girls living in urban communities. By highlighting the strengths of this group, researchers and practitioners can attempt to learn from Black girls who are not engaging in risky behaviors as opposed to focusing heavily on etiology through a deficit perspective which further marginalizes this group.

Background: Racial differences have been described for treatment of painful conditions in the ED for children and adults.

Objectives: To compare disparities in the treatment of subjective (chest pain) vs objective (fracture) pain complaints, and the impact of pathway-based care.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of two cohorts where clinical pathways were created to standardize care (transfers excluded): 1) Patients 3-18yrs with chest pain (03/01/2013-07/08/2015) – excluding pre-existing cardiac disease, GERD, asthma, sickle cell. Primary treatment outcomes were diagnostic testing (lab, EKG, x-ray, echo). 2) Patients with long bone fracture (07/02/2013-06/30/2015). Primary treatment outcomes were any opioid analgesic and intranasal fentanyl. Multivariate regression models determined association between outcome and patient race/ethnicity overall and pre/post pathway introduction.

Results: Chest pain cohort had 1644 patients; 1153(70.13%) black, 380(23.11%) white, 111(6.75%) hispanic. Fracture cohort had 1830 patients; 819(44.75 %) black, 898(48.96%) white, 115(6.28%) hispanic. In adjusted analyses of chest pain cohort, black patients had fewer EKGs(0.70 (0.53-0.92)), CXRs(0.58 (0.44-0.76)) and shorter LOS(-16.29 (-30.14,,-2.44)); while fracture cohort had no difference in treatment by race. After pathway implementation:

1) Chest pain: differences between races in EKG rate, CXR rate and LOS persisted

2) Fracture: likelihood of any opioid therapy and IN fentanyl increased, with no difference in effect by race. (table)

Conclusions: In the pediatric ED, racial disparities exist in the treatment of chest pain (subjective pain complaint) but are not found in the treatment of fracture (objective pain complaint). Pathway-based care altered overall care delivery;with no effect on racial disparities where they existed.

There are over 600 million cases of Human Papillomavirus worldwide and 80 million cases in the United States. In 2019, 45 percent, of HPV strains in the United States are among individuals aged 15-59 years. Mississippi has the highest rate of HPV related cancers in the United States at 14.3/100, 000 compared to the national average of 11.7/100, 000. In Mississippi, the disparity is even more significant with a rate of 11.4/100, 000 among African Americans compared to 8.1/100,000 among Caucasians.

After the approval of HPV vaccine in 2006, countries began a school-based approach for HPV vaccination. Although there has been a commendable improvement of vaccine dissemination in the United States, a report by the CDC illustrates that the country still relies on primary healthcare providers to offer the vaccine to adolescents. A majority of primary care providers in Mississippi do not serve patients with no private insurance, or patients with Medicaid. Additionally, there is no HPV related curricula in the public schools. Due to poverty and other related socioeconomic factors, African Americans adolescents are less likely to have a source of provider and this presents as a potentially missed opportunity for HPV vaccine uptake and treatment. African Americans bear HPV burden compared to Caucasians in Mississippi. There is a need to advocate for inclusion of free HPV vaccine for all adolescents aged 13 to 17 years in the state of Mississippi. Developing programs that can inform and educate communities that bear HPV burden in Mississippi could potentially save lives.

Issue: Because of the impact a college degree has on the economic prospects of individuals and their families, promoting access to and preparation for college is a social-justice and public health issue. Systemic factors contribute to a massive college degree divide, with low-income students and students of color attending and graduating from college at much lower rates than wealthy white students.

Description: YES attempted to address this opportunity gap by designing programming to support students through the college application and transition processes. Both in local communities and nationwide, significant efforts have been made to increase college attendance rates of low-income students of color. However, scholars suggest that efforts to increase college access must also be met with targeted programming and actively providing support for students to persist to graduation. YES offers a comprehensive college-prep program that equips youth with important resources and skills to succeed.

Lessons Learned: Students come to YES unaware of their own efficacy. However, through their continued engagement and introspection, students see themselves as increasingly successful. As students shift their perspectives, they see their program roles shift, too. Students who fully engage the organization’s ethos, own their own narratives and communicate them in empowering ways.

Recommendations: This program demonstrated the importance of allowing students to tell their narratives and speak from a position of agency rather than victimhood. YES has employed narrative telling as a powerful rhetorical tool. We suggest replicating this technique to help students find strength and vision as they pursue post-secondary education.

Background: Uptake of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) can reduce new HIV infections by 92% among all populations when taken consistently. Also, previous studies have reported that relationship status affects PrEP use and retention of PrEP care interventions. However, less is known about how relationship status affects the uptake of PrEP medications. Therefore, the objective is to analyze the various PrEP uptake predictors that are affected by any relationship status among self-identified heterosexual Black college students.

Methods: Self-identified heterosexual black college students enrolled in Jefferson County, Texas colleges were surveyed. A multiple linear regression analyses measured how the various PrEP uptake predictors are affected by any relationship status of the participants in the study.

Results: Given any relationship status, the PrEP uptake predictors that will statistically significantly spike a conversation are the likelihood to take PrEP if it was provided free of charge (β=-0.154, p<0.05, p= 0.000), the likelihood to take PrEP if it had side effects affecting your kidneys, liver, and bones, and including diarrhea, nausea, dizziness, headaches, and rash (β=-0.113, p<0.05, p=0.004), and the likelihood to take PrEP if one was in a monogamous relationship with a partner who was HIV positive (β=-0.113, p<0.05, p= 0.007).

Conclusion: Health promotion, public health, and social work efforts should focus on the significant PrEP uptake predictors indicated in this study when relationship status is a major concern in the HIV prevention intervention or implementation approach.

According to CDC (2018), there are approximately 1.2 million individuals living with HIV in the US. Priority populations at an increased risk for HIV, include racial and ethnic minorities; victims of sexual assault; drug users; men who sleep with men; and youth, especially those who are 20-24 years old. These groups need additional education about HIV prevention, as well as access to sexual health education services. African Americans are only 12% of the US population but were 44% of all new cases of HIV in 2016. One in six African Americans do not know their status. African Americans who live in the Southern US are at an increased risk of HIV. Southern states have a disproportionate rate of HIV cases, in addition to social determinants issues like poverty. Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, is a method for individuals who are HIV-negative but who are at substantial risk of getting HIV to prevent HIV infection by taking medication every day. The introduction of PrEP offers secondary prevention efforts to reduce the transmission of HIV through treatment. There is a lack of knowledge of PrEP among college students. The purpose of this project is to determine the opinions of college students in Alabama and Florida related to HIV prevention through treatment. Two minority serving institutions and one predominately white institution are the sites for prevention health education sessions with HIV testing opportunities. This session will examine PrEP recommendations for college campuses based on the analysis of the questionnaires completed by the college students.

College women are experiencing sexual violence, unintended pregnancy, and the consequences of risky sexual behavior every day. 4 in 10 Black women experience rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime and experience unintended pregnancies double the rate of White women. My Sister’s Keeper (MSK) is a reproductive justice initiative to elevate the conversation about sexual health and intimate partner violence, advocate for policies that keep women safe, and mobilize women around reproductive rights on college campuses. Smartphones have become the primary means of online access for many young adults ages 18-29, particularly individuals of color. MSK is expanding its reach through the utilization of virtual platforms to reach across the nation to connect collegiate women at a greater level. To develop the online curriculum for the MSK program, an evaluation was conducted for the current MSK chapters. As a result, a work plan was developed to meet the needs of the current members of MSK chapters along with future chapters moving forward. Through the evaluation, lessons learned include understanding the needs of the current students to create this virtual program. For the next steps of this project, the online platform will be implemented in the next few months. The larger implications of these findings are to enhance understanding of reproductive justice and sexual health, reduce intimate partner violence and sexual assault occurrence, and lower rates of sexually transmitted diseases among students on college campuses through peer interactions.

Health practitioner biases are proven to correlate with negative health outcomes and to perpetuate health inequities. The dearth of professional school training on self-identification of these implicit biases demands novel teaching and learning techniques to mitigate bias. Validation first requires an examination of curricular acceptability. The present work examines the development and acceptability of such a program for health professional students

Program preparation included training students leaders to lead critical reflection sessions. A separate student pool was invited to join a cultural submersion seminar conducted by viewing a film that addressed social, political, and historical context of racial profiling and police violence, followed by dialogic education with community representatives, and critical reflection activities. Qualitative and survey responses were collected at the end of the program.

Student participants reported high levels of acceptability of the program. The majority of the student also identified that new knowledge was gained about the social determinants of health and identified agency toward personal and structural change.

This program demonstrates the acceptability of novel teaching and learning methods pertaining to student citizenship, social justice orientation, and bias in professional identity. This novel programming also appears to increase practitioners’ investment in the larger social context. Moreover, student responses support the hypothesis that the intentional process of equipping students through this framework can enhance social justice orientation. Future work should determine the most salient aspects of this program and attempt to replicate findings in other health professionals (e.g. nurses, doctors).

Substance use is the number one health problem facing the college student population. Many students consider alcohol consumption a part of the college experience. Several studies have focused on substance use among Caucasian college students. Little is known about the attitudes, perceptions and norms of substance use among African American college students. This project was built on a pilot study consisting of 500 African American college students that concluded similar attitudes, perceptions, and norms towards alcohol use with Caucasian students on a national level.

The goal of this project was to gather data to verify findings from the pilot study and to use applicable surveys to further examine the attitudes and perceived norms about substance use based on: Emotional Intelligence (EI), persistence, and graduation rates. For this analytical cross-sectional study, portions of the American College Health Association’s (ACHA) National College Health Assessment (NCHA) as well as the Emotional Style Survey were administered to 123 African American college students at a Midwestern Private Catholic University. Pearson correlation coefficients, one-way ANOVA tests, Chi-Square Tests of Independence, and a multiple regression model was used to analyze the association between EI and substance use behaviors.

The long-term outcome of this study has been to provide a foundation to enhance current university programs nationwide and provide appropriate prevention support services. It has also allowed researchers to account for ethnic and racial differences that shape substance use behaviors among college students and clarify other social concerns within the African American community.

Issues: Youth between the ages of 13-24 account for the highest number of new Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), with minorities being at a higher risk. Undiagnosed STI's account for 24,000 women becoming infertile each year, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. Achieving health equity requires making sexual health information readily available to young women in a fashion that does not condemn or shame but promotes confidence, positive sexual identity and healthy conversations with future partners.

Description: The intervention seeks to design a space for young women to ask questions without shame or embarrassment, promoting a level of self-confidence and the importance of safe sex. Through partnerships established between a local community-based organization and the community, methods include sex education programs, coordinated outreach events and offering rapid HIV testing. These interventions seek to remove the taboo of sex and teach an understanding of female bodies, partners’ bodies, consent, and all the physical, emotional, and psychological aspects of sexual behavior.

Lesson Learned: While the effort is new, the intervention has reached over 225 women in Volusia and Flagler counties, with 162 women receiving HIV testing. Results include a comparison of surveys from outreach events that measure knowledge uptake, evaluation of incidence of HIV/ STD within target communities, and the overall impact of the programs.

Recommendations: The success and uptake of the interventions coinciding with increased HIV and STI testing are the immediate goals. Overall intervention goals are responsible sexual behaviors, increased and enhanced partner conversations, and increased condom usage.