Black Lives Matter: A Call to Action for Counseling Psychology Leaders.

Police brutality and widespread systemic racism represent historical and current sources of trauma in Black communities. Both the Black Lives Matter movement and counseling psychology propose to confront these realities at multiple levels. Black Lives Matter seeks to increase awareness about systemic racism and promote resilience among Black people. Counseling psychology states values of multiculturalism, social justice, and advocacy. Executive leadership in counseling psychology may seek to promote racial justice, yet struggle with how to participate in Black Lives Matter movements and address racial discrimination within larger systems spontaneously and consistently. However, counseling psychology trainees and professionals are actively involved in the Black Lives Matter movement, leading the way forward. Through the framework of spontaneity in social movements, this manuscript highlights what counseling psychologists are currently contributing to Black Lives Matter and makes recommendations that build on the opportunity counseling psychologists have for further involvement in the movement.

Studying Sex: A Content Analysis of Sexuality Research in Counseling Psychology.

Using a sex positive framework, the authors conducted a 61-year (1954-2015) content analysis of sexuality research in the flagship counseling psychology journals, the Journal of Counseling Psychology and The Counseling Psychologist. Given counseling psychology's core strengths- and multiculturalism-related values, this study aimed to uncover which human sexuality topics were published most, whether publications aligned with a sex positive, neutral, or negative discourse, what methodologies were used, and differences in how populations were investigated across race. Researchers used an integrative approach to content analysis and human coding (Neuendorf, 2011). Results highlighted that out of 188 articles meeting criteria, a slight majority (38.05%) focused on sexual orientation, identity, and minorities topics. Only 4.78% utilized a sex-positive perspective. Quantitative and conceptual pieces were most published, and publications disproportionately focused on primarily White populations. When people of color were included, the discourse was sex negative. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Perceived Risk of HIV Infection Among Drug-Using African American Male Prisoners: One Year After Community Re-entry.

BACKGROUND: African Americans represent 13% of the U.S. population but 46% of people living with HIV and nearly 40% of state and federal prisoners. Disproportionate rates of HIV among African American males involved in the criminal justice system have been associated with risk factors, including: contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs), substance misuse, and inconsistent condom use. However, many African American males may not perceive an elevated risk of HIV upon re-entering the community. OBJECTIVE: The current study examines correlates of perceived HIV risk among incarcerated African American drug-using males about one year after release from prison. METHODS: Derived from a larger Health Services Utilization study, interviewing (N = 661) incarcerated men at baseline with a 92% follow-up rate approximately one year after community re-entry, the current study is a secondary data analyses from self-identified African American men (N = 250). After list-wise deletion, the total N = 221 for the final study results. RESULTS: An ordered logistic regression model examining perceived risk of HIV as the dependent variable found age, cocaine use before sex, and condom use were significant correlates in the model. Alcohol use before sex mediated the relationship between cocaine use before sex and perceived HIV risk. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest men in this study are engaged in HIV risk behaviors and risk perception varies. Implications for individual-level, community-level and policy interventions are discussed.

'The full has never been told': building a theory of sexual health for heterosexual Black men of Caribbean descent.

Research on Black sexual health often fails to represent the heterogeneity of Black ethnic groups. For people of Caribbean descent in the USA, ethnicity is a salient cultural factor that influences definitions and experiences of sexual health. Most research on people of Caribbean descent focuses on the relatively high rate of STIs, but sexual health is defined more broadly than STI prevalence. Psychological and emotional indicators and the voice of participants are important to consider when exploring the sexual health of a minority culture. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively explore how heterosexual Black men of Caribbean descent define and understand sexual health for themselves. Eleven men who self-identified as Black, Caribbean and heterosexual participated in three focus groups and were asked to define sexual health, critique behaviours expertly identified as healthy and address what encourages and discourages sexual health in their lives. Findings point to six dimensions of sexual health for heterosexual Black men of Caribbean descent. These include: heterosexually privileged, protective, contextual, interpersonal, cultural and pleasurable dimensions. There were some notable departures from current expert definitions of sexual health. Recommendations for further theory development are provided.

John Henryism Active Coping as a Cultural Correlate of Substance Abuse Treatment Participation Among African American Women.

The rates of illicit drug use among African American women are increasing, yet African American women are least likely to participate in treatment for substance use disorders when compared to women of other racial groups. The current study examined family history of substance use, perceived family support, and John Henryism Active Coping (JHAC) as correlates to seeking treatment for substance abuse. The underlying theoretical frame of JHAC (James et al., 1983) suggests that despite limited resources and psychosocial stressors, African Americans believe that hard work and self-determination are necessary to cope with adversities. The current study is a secondary data analyses of 206 drug-using African American women (N=104 urban community women with no criminal justice involvement and N=102 women living in the community on supervised probation) from urban cities in a southern state. It was expected that African American women with a family history of substance abuse, higher levels of perceived family support, and more active coping skills would be more likely to have participated in substance abuse treatment. Step-wise logistic regression results reveal that women on probation, had children, and had a family history of substance abuse were significantly more likely to report participating in substance abuse treatment. Perceived family support and active coping were significant negative correlates of participating in treatment. Implication of results suggests coping with psychosocial stressors using a self-determined and persistent coping strategy may be problematic for drug-using women with limited resources.