Substance Use and Discrimination in a sample of U.S.-based Latinx Sexual Minority Men and their main partners.

OBJECTIVES: Substance use, including drug and alcohol misuse, is associated with myriad health conditions, including higher risk for HIV infection. While preliminary evidence suggests that higher levels of relationship functioning can buffer against the deleterious health consequences of discrimination on mental health broadly, such protective associations have been understudied with respect to alcohol and drug use. The topic is particularly understudied among Latinx sexual minority men - despite the fact that they are at greater risk for problematic substance use behaviors and are likely to experience multiple forms of discrimination (e.g., racism, homophobia). METHOD: To address this gap in the literature, we sampled 95 predominately Latinx sexual minority male couples to assess their drinking and drug use behaviors, relationship functioning, and experiences of discrimination. We used Actor-Partner Interdependence models to test our hypotheses. RESULTS: We found that having a partner who experienced discrimination and higher partner reports of relationship functioning buffered against the negative relationship between own experiences of discrimination and drug use, but not problematic drinking. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that higher relationship functioning serves as a buffer between the negative ramifications of discrimination on drug use, but not problematic drinking. We explicate implications for policy and practice to facilitate well-being among coupled Latinx sexual minority men.

Evaluating Efforts to Address Campus Sexual Violence: Developing a Data Ecosystem.

Sexual violence is well documented as a major problem on college campuses, and the delivery of service and programs at institutions of higher education (IHE) has proliferated over recent years. However, the implementation of these efforts has often outpaced the field's work in developing evaluation models. Many institutions depend on campus climate surveys for data to inform their efforts, yet there are multiple data points that can be accessed to provide a more holistic picture of efforts to address sexual violence on campus. The data ecosystem framework provided by Driver-Linn & Svenson (2017) offers a comprehensive approach for assessing efforts to address campus sexual violence (CSV), but implementation models are needed that connect evaluation and practice, take local context into account, and lead to changes on campus. This paper presents a case study from a multisite university to describe the process of implementing a "data ecosystem" to assess the institutions' efforts to effectively address CSV, and how the data was used by practitioners and administrators. The collaborative, utilization-driven model has provided valuable data to inform the delivery of services and programs across the university yet has limitations and requires a wide range of resources to sustain.

Help-seeking among college survivors of dating and sexual violence: a qualitative exploration of utilization of university-based victim services.

Objective: Study uses qualitative data to examine help-seeking decisions as well as the drivers and barriers to utilization of university-based victim services through the accounts of survivors. Participants: The current study involves the analysis of 33 semi-structured interviews that were conducted with dating and sexual violence (DSV) survivors at a large, Mid-Atlantic University who both did and did not utilize university-based victim services. Methods: Data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. Results: Analysis shows that while survivors of DSV undergo a process of help-seeking that is similar to those described in previous help-seeking models, there are additional factors that contribute to a reluctancy to seek services at a university-based victim services center in particular that must be accounted for in the literature. Conclusions: The findings from the current study underscore the importance of understanding the specific drivers and barriers to utilization of university-based victim services.

Community Conversations on Relationship Violence: Town Variations in Prevention Perceptions through Concept Mapping.

To further develop domestic and sexual violence (DSV) prevention strategies at the community level requires an understanding of how community members in towns think about prevention. Using concept mapping, this study sought to better understand community members' perspectives about what DSV prevention strategies would be most feasible, most effective, and generate the greatest community support within their town. Data were collected across four rural Northern England towns. Participants (>90% White) in each town (total sample size = 119) brainstormed, sorted, and rated between 67 and 90 statements per town (x̅ = 75). Based on the results, a 5-cluster solution of school settings, conversations, individual direct action, community building, and community awareness was identified across all four towns as DSV prevention strategies with one town identifying an additional cluster solution of governance. Despite identifying similar prevention strategies, participants from each town rated these clusters of strategies differently on how feasible, effective, and supported they would be in their community. Overall, our results suggest that there were interesting consistencies across four towns in a similar geographic region in terms of how DSV prevention was described. However, individual communities differed in their views of the feasibility and acceptability of the different strategies. These results suggest that different strategies and higher-level actions may be required to address and prevent DSV within different towns and communities and that community narratives can clarify which specific strategies may encounter fewer barriers to implementation.