Patients' views on HCC biospecimen research: Understanding the role of race and culture through interviews.

BACKGROUND: HCC is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality; there are significant racial and ethnic disparities in HCC risk and survival. Our knowledge regarding whether molecular and genetic factors contribute to these observed differences is limited by scarcity of biospecimens, which are especially scarce in minority populations. Because biospecimens are not needed for HCC diagnosis or treatment, patients are less likely to provide biospecimens solely for research purposes. METHODS: We identified participants, n = 32, from an ongoing prospective cohort study. Using semi-structured interviews, we examined perceptions of providing biospecimens for research to identify factors that motivate and hinder their willingness to donate. RESULTS: Directed content analysis resulted in 6 themes, including reported experiences of (1) support or suspicion in donating biospecimens; (2) desire to help others or themselves; (3) inconvenience, discomfort, and concerns about privacy or recovery as hindrances to donating; (4) recommendations for health care researchers; (5) preferences for biospecimen donation; and (6) the influence of race, culture, and religion in donating biospecimens. Patients reported being least willing to donate specimens that required more invasive procedures and recovery, namely, liver tissue. Patients reported being more likely to donate if the data collection was convenient, resulted from discarded tissue, or was instituted as part of a broad opt-in consent approach, with assurances as to confidentiality and prosocial benefit. Participants expressed mixed views about whether race and culture influence people's willingness to donate biospecimens. CONCLUSIONS: Specific recommendations to increase the likelihood of donation include providing patients with educational materials addressing the benefits of donation and the concerns about confidentiality and data usage, making donation convenient, and adopting a broad consent bio-banking policy.

Does Ethnicity Moderate the Link between Drinking Norms and Binge Drinking in College Students?

Normative beliefs about typical student behavior are related to student drinking, but ethnic minority students may not view themselves as "typical" and may not match drinking behavior to perceptions of typical behavior. Data were from 18,748 U.S. students in the Fall 2014 National College Health Assessment. Students self-reported ethnicity: White, not Hispanic (63%), Asian/Pacific Islander (12%), Hispanic/Latino (11%), Black/African American (8%), Native American/Alaska Native (3%), or Biracial/Other (4%). Students self-reported binge drinking (5+ standard drinks) in the last two weeks, and estimated peak %BAC was calculated. Controlling for age, gender, and fraternity/sorority membership, Hispanic/Latino and Black/African American ethnicity moderated the norms binge drinking and estimated %BAC relationships for and students. Prevention and intervention efforts, such as personalized normative feedback, that use drinking norms should be modified for students from ethnic minority groups. Specifically, norms from students with greater perceived similarity-not "typical" students-should be used in prevention interventions.

Sex differences in interpersonal problems: does sexual orientation moderate?

Sexual orientation was examined as a moderator in the relation between biological sex and interpersonal problems. Participants were 60 lesbians, 45 heterosexual women, 37 gay men, and 39 heterosexual men, who completed the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-Circumplex. Sexual orientation was found to moderate one of the eight interpersonal problems under study. Heterosexual women scored significantly higher than lesbian women in Non-assertive. Although hypothesized, gay men did not differ from heterosexual men along the Dominant-Cold quadrant. Implications of these results are discussed.

The relation of racial identity, ethnic identity, and racial socialization to discrimination-distress: a meta-analysis of Black Americans.

This meta-analysis synthesized the results of 27 studies examining the relations of racial identity, ethnic identity, and racial socialization to discrimination-distress for Black Americans. The purpose was to uncover which constructs connected to racial identity, ethnic identity, and racial socialization most strongly correlate with racial discrimination and psychological distress. Discrimination significantly related to aspects of racial identity, including immersion-emersion, public regard, encounter, Afrocentricity/racial centrality/private regard, and internalization. Distress significantly correlated with preencounter/assimilation, encounter, public regard, immersion-emersion, and Afrocentricity/racial centrality/private regard. Several of these relationships were significantly moderated by the measure of racial identity or demographic variables (gender or age). Implications of these findings are discussed.

Over a half-century encapsulated: a multicultural content analysis of the Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1954-2009.

Articles including multicultural content published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology (JCP), from 1954 to 2009, were examined for themes. Multicultural content in this study was broadly defined to include the following identities: race/ethnicity, gender/sex, religion/spirituality, sexual orientation, social status, disability, age, and intersections. Inclusion of articles focused on each of these identity domains was reported by decade. Gender/sex was the most prevalent multicultural identity found in the JCP, followed by race/ethnicity. The most common themes for multicultural articles, in order, were counseling process, vocation/career, and psychological processes/interventions. Academic achievement, discrimination/minority stress, and research methodology were the other common themes that were found across multicultural research. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Psychotherapy trainees' multicultural case conceptualization content: thematic differences across three cases.

This study examined thematic differences in the multicultural case conceptualization content of 61 psychotherapy trainees across three different cases and trainee demographics (number of multicultural courses completed, years of supervised clinical practicum completed, and White trainee vs. trainee of color). Themes across cases included general counseling skills (attend to affect, build rapport, focus on specific client concerns, use of specific clinical interventions, and use of external resources not related to culture), as well as multicultural specific counseling skills (focus on culture, focus on discrimination, use of culturally competent interventions, and use of external resources related to culture). Thematic differences across case were found in three of the nine themes (affect, culture, discrimination). No systematic differences were found across multicultural training, clinical training, or race. Implications of these results are discussed.

Sex differences in interpersonal problems: a circumplex analysis.

The structure and magnitude of sex differences in interpersonal problems across several data sets were examined, guided by the interpersonal circumplex model and the structural summary method. Data were self-reported interpersonal difficulties, assessed with the 64-item version of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP; L. M. Horowitz, S. E. Rosenberg, B. A. Baer, G. Ureño, & V. S. Villaseñor, 1988). In Study 1, the authors focused on sex differences at the level of specific interpersonal complaints (item level). In Study 2, the authors examined sex differences in octant scores of the IIP circumplex (scale level), in a reanalysis of archival data. The structural summary method was used to identify points of maximum difference between men and women in the interpersonal continuum and to estimate effect sizes. Results from the 2 studies converged in suggesting a dimension of difference involving problems in Hostile-Dominance vs. Friendly-Submission. The magnitude of effect size was consistent with previous reports in the personality literature. These sex differences appeared to be best explained by a one-dimensional model. Findings were generally consistent across 3 different types of samples.

General and multicultural case conceptualization skills: A cross-sectional analysis of psychotherapy trainees.

The general and multicultural case conceptualization skills of 91 psychotherapy trainees were evaluated for complexity and expertness across 3 case scenarios. The cases varied in the extent to which culture was presented in the demographic information and presenting concerns. Whereas general case conceptualization skills were found to relate to clinical training, multicultural case conceptualization skills were found to relate to multicultural training. Across cases, advanced trainees demonstrated significantly greater complexity and expertness than beginners. Trainees consistently included more culturally relevant ideas when culture was explicitly stated in the case as a presenting problem, versus when culture was implied. Last, consistently significant differences in the case conceptualizations of White trainees and trainees of color were not found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).