College Women's Perceptions of a Friend-Based Intervention to Prevent Alcohol-Involved Sexual Assault.

Sexual assault (SA), particularly alcohol-involved SA, remains prevalent among college women. Because SA often begins in social contexts, bystander intervention has become a popular approach to prevention. Bystander interventions train individuals to intervene on behalf of others, including strangers, despite research indicating that intervention is more likely to occur when the bystander has a relationship with the target. Shifting the focus to friends as potential bystanders capitalizes on the qualities of relationship and responsibility that facilitate intervention. College women (N = 35) participated in focus groups (N = 8) during which they viewed a video prototype of a friend-based motivational interviewing (FMI) intervention session conducted with a friend dyad and provided feedback about the relevance and feasibility of using such an approach to reduce SA among friends who drink together in social settings. Content analysis of focus group transcripts yielded three themes: a) Friends as Natural Bystanders; b) The Role of Alcohol in Intervention, and c) Receptivity to FMI intervention. Women indicated that they feel responsible for keeping their friends safe, and that this sense of responsibility facilitates helping behaviors. Women also described ways through which alcohol intoxication can affect helping behavior. Women expressed enthusiasm for the FMI intervention approach and identified its emphasis on friendship and flexible approaches to personal safety as strengths. Findings highlight the promise of FMI intervention approaches that capitalize on the strengths of women's friendship to create safety goals that align with participants' values and overcome barriers to intervention, including alcohol intoxication.

Prevalence and Variations of Sexual Violence Victimization Among US-Based Latino Adults and Adolescents: A Systematic Literature Review.

Sexual violence victimization (SVV) is a significant public health concern. SVV research often focuses on college-attending White women's experiences, resulting in a knowledge gap regarding the experiences of ethnic minority groups, including the Latino community - the largest minority group in the US. To develop more culturally sensitive SV prevention efforts, the current study reviewed research focused on the prevalence rates of SVV among Latino people. The authors searched for published articles in PubMed, PsycINFO, and the reference sections of relevant articles published from 2011 to 2022. Articles were deemed eligible if they presented SVV prevalence rates for Latino participants; 39 articles were included in the review. The most frequently assessed aspect of SVV among Latino people was whether they had ever been victimized. The average prevalence rate across articles was 16.0%. Additionally, researchers examined the prevalence rates of unwanted touching, sexual coercion, and completed rape among Latino individuals. Few articles examined SVV prevalence rates among sexual and gender minority Latinos; those that did found higher SVV rates among those groups. SVV is a prevalent issue within the Latino community, with women and sexual minorities facing an even greater risk. Moving forward, studying the contextual factors of SVV among Latino people and developing culturally sensitive interventions tailored to this population are needed.

Do Risk Factors for Incapacitated and Other Sexual Assault Differ for Black and White College Women? A Preliminary Investigation.

Heavy episodic drinking (HED) and hookups are risk factors for college women's sexual assault (SA). Black women engage in these behaviors less frequently than White women. We prospectively examined HED and hookups as mechanisms of incapacitated SA (ISA) and other SA (OSA) risks for Black and White first-year college women and sociocontextual factors that may contribute differentially to risk. In mediation analyses, Black women's less frequent HED predicted lower ISA. SA characteristics (e.g., setting) also differed by race. Mechanisms and types of assault risk may not be the same for all college women, an important consideration for intervention efforts.

Safety Protocols for Adolescent Substance Use Research in Clinical Settings.

PURPOSE: Research involving adolescent risk behaviors must balance data confidentiality with participant safety when risky behaviors are revealed. This report details a safety protocol and reports the experience of two contemporaneous studies that used it with variant safety thresholds. METHODS: We developed a safety protocol for research with adolescent patients and used it in two concurrent studies of adolescent patients, aged 14-18 years. Study "PC" recruited participants from a primary care adolescent medical clinic (N = 490), and Study "SP" recruited participants from subspecialty pediatric clinics (N = 434); both studies involved a similar self-administered assessment of health behaviors. The protocol sets thresholds for clinical intervention (positive safety flags) for past 3-month heavy alcohol consumption (Study PC: 10 or more drinks and Study SP: "binge-"level drinking), illicit drug use other than marijuana and alcohol in combination with a substance other than marijuana, and sets a positive screen for depression. We examined the rates of positive safety flags in both protocol settings, used significance testing to describe demographic differences between participants with and without positive flags in both studies, and described clinician experiences with protocol implementation. RESULTS: In studies PC/SP, .6%/8.8% of participants were flagged for heavy alcohol consumption, respectively; .2%/0% for illicit drug use, 2.2%/.7% for combination substance use, and 14.9%/4.8% for depression. Some clinicians found managing positive flags challenging, although both studies completed recruitment on time and without serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: The protocol was feasible in clinical settings. The findings and experiences documented in this report could be useful for future protocols.

Adolescent SBIRT Practices Among Pediatricians in Massachusetts.

OBJECTIVES: Adolescent Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) in primary care is a key strategy to prevent, identify, and respond to substance use problems and disorders, including opioid and other drug addictions. Despite substantial investment in recent years to increase its implementation, few studies have reported on recent levels of SBIRT implementation among pediatricians. We aimed to assess self-reported use of the SBIRT framework with adolescent patients among Massachusetts pediatricians, and describe trends since an earlier survey. METHODS: We analyzed responses to a cross-sectional survey mailed in 2017 to a representative sample of pediatricians in Massachusetts. We computed response frequencies for all SBIRT practice questions. We used the chi-square test to compare current data to data collected in 2014, as we found no demographic differences between the 2 samples. RESULTS: Nearly all pediatricians in the 2017 sample (n = 160) reported annual screening of their adolescent patients (99%). The majority reported giving positive reinforcement (87%), brief advice (92%), counseling (90%), and referral to treatment (66%) in response to screen results. Compared with 2014, a significantly higher proportion of pediatricians in 2017 referred patients who screened positively for problematic alcohol use, but perceived barriers to screening and follow-up remain, such as insufficient time to screen and patient refusal to return. CONCLUSIONS: Among respondents to a Massachusetts pediatrician survey, we found high rates of delivering SBIRT in accordance with published guidelines, though barriers remain. Whether the content of the counseling adheres to guidelines is unknown.