Perspectives on a Couples-Based, e-Health HIV Prevention Toolkit Intervention: A Qualitative Dyadic Study with Black, Heterosexual Couples in New York State.

Web-based technology provides an unparalleled opportunity to increase access and uptake of couples-based HIV prevention interventions. e-Health HIV prevention interventions for US Black heterosexual couples have largely been understudied. To address this gap, we applied the Assessment Phase of the ADAPT-ITT Framework to investigate Black heterosexual couples' perspectives on an existing e-Health, couples-based HIV prevention intervention. Applying a qualitative descriptive approach, joint dyadic interviews were conducted with 28 Black heterosexual couples from three jurisdictions in New York State. Content dyadic analysis revealed three descriptive categories: perspectives of the toolkit intervention (sub-codes: perceived relevance, reactions to core components), recommendations to enhance intervention relevancy (sub-codes: tailoring to relationship type, adding new content), and lasting intervention considerations (sub-codes: toolkit usability and language use). Overall, couples found the toolkit intervention content and usability acceptable and reflected on its potential to build sexual and relationship health. Couples recommended to enhance toolkit adaptability for varied couple's motivation and types re-consider terms like sexual agreements, and include content to facilitate communication regarding sensitive topics (e.g., childhood sexual trauma, co-parenting, family planning) and other issues that may have more relevance to the experience of US Black persons (i.e., wealth building).

"I Thought It Was Normal:" Perspectives of Black Nursing Students From High-Risk IPV Communities on Causes and Solutions to IPV in the Black Community.

Black individuals are at high risk for intimate partner violence (IPV) but are less likely to utilize existing IPV services and supports. In an effort toward developing more culturally responsive IPV solutions for the Black community, researchers set out to understand how residents of high-risk IPV communities explained the high rates of IPV in their community, and what they thought possible solutions would entail. A purposive sample of 22 Black nursing students (20 female, 2 male) from a high-IPV risk predominately Black community in Western New York who were students enrolled in a Licensed Practitioner Nursing (LPN) program attended four focus groups that utilized a semi-structured interview format. Their verbatim responses were analyzed using qualitative inductive thematic analysis. Participants identified five major causes of IPV in Black communities: (a) weakened family structure, (b) IPV is normalized (c) community lacks IPV knowledge, (d) mistrust of formal resources, and (e) mental health. They also identified 10 solutions to IPV in Black communities: (a) counseling, (b) peer support groups, (c) use of technology, (d) resources to create self-sufficiency, (e) education, (f) culturally specific resources, (g) reduce stigma, (h) public service announcements, (i) substance abuse treatment, and (j) IPV screenings. Research and clinical implications of the research are discussed, including how these might inform the creation of culturally responsive interventions.

Perceptions of monogamy, nonconsensual nonmonogamy and consensual nonmonogamy at the intersections of race and gender.

Given the historical entrenchment of racialised stereotypes of Black women and Black men as sexually promiscuous, we wondered whether consensual nonmonogamy (CNM) among Black partners would be seen as favourably as among white partners. We also wondered if Black participants would perceive different relationship types differently from white participants. We pursued these questions in a vignette study featuring heterosexual couples coded as Black or as white and engaged in three different relationship types: monogamy, nonconsensual nonmonogamy (NCNM) and CNM. To facilitate comparisons across race*gender intersections, we used a sample comprising equivalent numbers of Black women, white women, Black men and white men aged 18-40. Contrary to expectations, analyses did not offer evidence of a racialised sexual double standard insofar as participant perceptions of relationship quality did not differ when considering a Black couple or a white couple. Indicating the persistence of mononormativity, participants across race*gender subsamples perceived monogamous relationships to be of higher quality, regardless of the vignette couple's race. We also found Black women, Black men and white women perceived CNM more favourably than NCNM, while there was no differentiation between CNM and NCNM among white men.