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Providers' Views On Prep For Adolescent Girls And Young Women In Tanzania: Findings From Implementation Science Research, Population Council

HIV and AIDS

In collaboration with the Tanzania National AIDS Control Programme and CSK Research Solutions Ltd., the Population Council conducted an implementation science research study to identify key considerations among healthcare providers for oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) introduction to adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in an urban and a rural setting in Dar Es Salaam and Mbeya districts, respectively. This brief presents results from a survey and in-depth interviews conducted with healthcare providers in each setting, assessing their knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions about PrEP; willingness to prescribe PrEP to AGYW; and perceived barriers and facilitators to providing PrEP to AGYW. The …

Rates Of Hiv And Hsv-2 Among Young People In Machinga, Malawi, Barbara Mensch, Erica Soler-Hampejsek

HIV and AIDS

To better understand the epidemiological context for the DREAMS programming, Project SOAR analyzed previously collected quantitative cohort data from the Population Council’s Malawi Schooling and Adolescent Study (MSAS) to identify the prevalence and incidence of HIV and the herpes simplex virus, commonly referred to as genital herpes. SOAR’s analysis provides a deeper understanding of the changing epidemiological and gendered context of the HIV epidemic in Machinga. The youth cohort data from the MSAS provide accurate estimates of HIV prevalence over time and HIV incidence, thereby filling important data gaps.

Strengthening Capacity In Hiv Operations Research: Reflections On A Project Soar Workshop In Johannesburg, South Africa, Project Soar

HIV and AIDS

Capacity strengthening (CS) to support rigorous scientific research is a globally recognized need and central to Project SOAR. Over a four-day period, SOAR conducted a CS workshop to strengthen individual and institutional capacity in HIV operations research, with a particular emphasis on the research utilization process. This brief summarizes the CS activities conducted, insights from the workshop’s organization, and participants’ views of the workshop.

Growing Portland: Not Whether, But How, Richard Barringer Phd, Joseph Mcdonnell Phd

Faculty Publications

In the 400 years since European settlement, Portland has survived the ravages of war, invasion, pestilence, conflagration, and economic depression and recession. Once a renowned manufacturing, trade, and shipping center, it now enjoys what might be called a post-industrial renaissance as a vibrant center for the arts, education, entertainment, and banking, legal, and medical services; and is frequently cited as one of America’s best small cities. As a result, Portland is growing today and is positioned for more growth.

The question, then, is not whether Portland will grow, but how well it will grow; or, how best to manage the …

A Content Analysis On Two Different Immigrants’ Stories In California From Two Novels: A Step From Heaven: A Korean Girl And Esperanza Rising: A Mexican Farm Worker, Claudia Guerrero Barrera

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This study intends to compare and analyze two stories of young immigrants coming to California from Korea and Mexico. The themes through thematic analysis on migration motives, ethnic customs, family interactions, and assimilation process are identified and analyzed. The two novels also pointed out the importance of using young adult narratives as a means that libraries, schools, and cultural centers could use to promote cultural understandings.

Measuring Gender Equality In Education: Lessons From 43 Countries, Stephanie Psaki, Katharine Mccarthy, Barbara Mensch

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Through the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), governments committed to achieving universal secondary school completion, including eliminating gender disparities, by 2030. The period from 1997 to 2014 saw considerable progress in closing gender gaps in school enrollment and attainment in many, but not all, low- and middle-income countries. However, as this research brief explains, claims that gender parity in primary education now exists are premature, especially in the poorest countries and new gender gaps, or gender-related challenges, may emerge as attainment increases. Moreover, the extremely low levels of secondary school enrollment—and even moreso completion—demonstrate that the SDG target of universal …

Updating The People Living With Hiv Stigma Index, Project Soar

HIV and AIDS

In October 2015, supported by USAID/PEPFAR, Project SOAR established a small working group (SWG) with representatives from a variety of nongovernmental organizations, and several experts within and external to SOAR. The SWG outlined a process for evaluating and updating the Stigma Index, launched in 2008, that would be transparent and incorporate as many perspectives as possible in the process. The Stigma Index is both a data collection tool and an empowering intervention for the interviewers collecting data and the interviewees who are sharing their experiences of stigma. Since the Stigma Index was launched, there have been shifts in the HIV …

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (Nasis) 2016-2017 Methodology Report, Bureau Of Sociological Research

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS)

2016-2017 NASIS Methodology Report

Contents

Introduction 3

Mode Selection 3

Design and Item Selection 3

Sampling Design 4

Experimental Design Treatment 4

Data Collection Process 4

Response Rate 5

Data-Entry Training, Supervision, and Quality Control 5

Processing of Completed Surveys 5

Data Cleaning 5

NASIS Sample Weights 6

Design Effects 6

Questions 6

Estimate of Sampling Error 9

Appendices 10

Appendix A: Cover Letters 10

First Mailing – Version 1 (Long version with incentive) 10

First Mailing – Version 2 (Short version with incentive) 11

First Mailing – Version 3 (Long version with no incentive) 12

First Mailing – Version …

Considerations For Prep Introduction To Adolescent Girls And Young Women: Implementation Science Research In Tanzania, Population Council

HIV and AIDS

In collaboration with the National AIDS Control Programme and CSK Research Solutions Ltd., a Tanzania-based research organization, the Population Council is conducting implementation science research in Tanzania to build needed evidence to inform decisionmaking around the introduction of oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to adolescent girls and young women (AGYW), ages 15–24. This research will actively engage key stakeholders throughout the study, including gaining their insights on key study questions, interpreting the findings, crafting initial programming recommendations based on findings, and supporting their adoption in Tanzania and beyond. Findings from this study and other observational studies and demonstration trials in progress …

Parents' And Guardians' Perceptions Of Oral Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Introduction In Tanzania: Findings From Implementation Science Research, Population Council

HIV and AIDS

The Population Council, in collaboration with the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) and CSK Research Solutions Ltd., conducted implementation science research in two research sites in Tanzania to identify key considerations for introducing oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to adolescent girls and young women (AGYW). The NACP and members of the study’s research utilization committee recognized the importance of learning about parents’ and guardians’ attitudes and perceptions of PrEP use by their adolescent and young adult daughters and peers to inform the PrEP implementation process in Tanzania. Moreover, existing research in Tanzania finds that parents communicate with their children about sexual …

Expanding Access To Integrated Family Planning Intervention Packages For Married Adolescent Girls In Urban Slums Of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Fauzia Akhter Huda, Hassan Rushekh Mahmood, Sadia Afrin, Anisuddin Ahmed, Nafis Al Haque, Bidhan Krishna Sarker

Reproductive Health

This research report describes an intervention study conducted among married adolescent girls aged 15–19 years in four urban slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Objectives of the study were to examine the acceptability and feasibility of forming married adolescent girls’ clubs, and involving community health volunteers (Shasthya Skebikas) and marriage registrars to increase access to family planning (FP) information and services, to promote the uptake of long-acting reversible contraceptive methods, and to provide FP information to newlywed couples at the time of marriage registration. The study findings revealed that a noteworthy number of married adolescent girls received FP-related information, mostly from the …

Creating A Culture Of Evidence Use: Using An Innovative Knowledge Translation Platform To Inform Hiv/Aids Programming For Women And Girls, Jill Gay, Melanie Croce-Galis, Karen Hardee, Amelia Peltz

Reproductive Health

Given that moving evidence from a study to policy, programs, and practice can often take a decade or more, what is the best way to get evidence into the hands of those developing policies and programs to speed its use? Enhancing the use of evidence in policies and programs through an innovative web-based knowledge platform, What Works for Women: Evidence for HIV/AIDS Interventions, resulted in major changes in National Strategic HIV Plans plus Concept Notes submitted to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in 14 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This paper documents how components …

Status Of Sexual And Reproductive Health And Rights In Zambia: Contraception And Family Planning, Preventing Unsafe Abortion And Accessing Post Abortion Care, And Maternal Health, Population Council

Reproductive Health

In 1994, the International Conference on Population and Development affirmed that sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are human rights. The Government of the Republic of Zambia has fully committed to fulfilling the SRHR of all people by ratifying 11 international instruments of law. This brief is Part 1 of a three-part series entitled “Status of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Zambia,” reporting on progress, gaps, and existing challenges in SRHR. Using a human rights–based approach, the Government of Zambia and collaborators, with technical facilitation by the Population Council, conducted an assessment of the status of SRHR …

Nature, Socio-Spatial Divisions And Connections: An Examination Of El Jardín De Guadalupe, Elizabeth Moreno

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Culture is often discussed in the content of social behavior but, how culture is spatially linked to landscapes is often overlooked. Points of social and cultural reproduction is not only tied to landscapes, but there are constantly challenged as new cultures are introduced into a space. Latino culture in the United States has, and continues to, reshape America’s landscapes. For purpose of this thesis, the reshaping of landscapes will be observed in a community. This project examines the perception that Latinos avoid participation in a community garden. This perception is not entirely true, as there was one Latina participating. As …

Visions For Waterville's Future: Perceptions Of Its Residents, Alex Wolansky

Honors Theses

Mills and factories in the United States have steadily been closing down as industry is outsourced in the globalized economy. Cities that were once prosperous face decay and often have no hopeful future outlook. Post-industrial towns face major unemployment and poverty and are not typically places for re-investment. But Rust Belt cities like Baltimore, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Milwaukee and St. Louis are not the only post- industrial hubs that are struggling. Many small towns in rural areas once thrived from manufacturing and are becoming forgotten. Local governments, policy makers, urban planners, developers and scholars are working to figure …

Environment And Sustainability In Nevada, Jennifer Stevens, Genevieve Minter, Robert Futrell

Social Health of Nevada Reports

When the inaugural Earth Day launched the first environmental decade in the U.S. more than forty years ago, protecting our air, water, land and other natural resources seemed a relatively straightforward task. Environmental polluters and exploiters would be brought to heel by tough laws. The U.S. and other industrialized nations responded to quality of life concerns associated with environmental degradation by adopting dozens of major environmental and resource policies and creating new institutions such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to manage environmental programs. Following these national developments, states and local communities began systematic efforts to address environmental problems.

What …

Aging Trends & Challenges In Nevada, Jennifer R. Keene, Jacqueline Ragin

Social Health of Nevada Reports

Societal aging is one of the most important social trends of the 21st century. It affects our political, social, and economic institutions and also the nature of our interpersonal and family relationships (Quadagno 2011). In the coming decades, both as individuals and as a society, we will have to make important decisions regarding the consequences of our aging population. Policy makers, families, businesses, local, state, and federal governments, health care providers will have to meet the growing needs of the older population in the U.S. and in Nevada.

By the year 2020, the percent of the U.S. population over age …

A Systems Approach To Improving Delivery And Update Of Facility-Based Hiv Testing And Linkage To Care In South Africa, Project Soar

HIV and AIDS

Project SOAR is examining the current delivery of HIV testing (HTS) and linkages to care (LTC) services—including barriers, facilitators, and infrastructure—in Ekurhuleni District, South Africa which has the second-highest district-level HIV prevalence in the country. Based on these formative findings, the project will develop and test tailored approaches to increase patients’ uptake of HTS and subsequent LTC, if positive. The project expects to find evidence of HTS coverage outside of antenatal care; document key systems-level barriers to HTS and LTC; assess potentially generalizable clinic-level strategies to increase HTS delivery and assess LTC needs; and identify the added value for implementation …

Effect Of A Family-Centered Model Of Hiv Care On Viral Suppression And Care Retention Among Hiv-Positive Children In Swaziland, Project Soar

HIV and AIDS

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) has been supporting the Kingdom of Swaziland since 2003 to prevent mother-to-child transmission and to provide care and treatment services to HIV-positive children and adults. Project SOAR and the Swaziland Ministry of Health are leveraging EGPAF’s establishment of a family-centered care service delivery program (FAM-CARE) and a national rollout of viral load monitoring to assess their implementation and effect on viral suppression and retention in care among children living with HIV. This implementation science study is important because it will provide critical data to national and global policymakers about the model’s feasibility, acceptability, …

Evaluating Community-Facility Linkage Models To Promote Mother-Infant Retention Along The Hiv Care Continuum, Project Soar

HIV and AIDS

In Malawi, and other resourced-constrained, sub-Saharan African countries with a high HIV burden, several service delivery models have emerged to increase prevention of mother-to-child transmission care retention by strengthening connections between health facilities and their surrounding communities. Yet there has been little documentation of the unique characteristics of each model and their comparative impact on mother-infant pair (MIP) care retention and other health outcomes. This brief describes how Project SOAR is responding to these knowledge gaps by conducting research to identify components of community-based MIP support that are associated with maternal care retention and infant HIV-free survival. This research will …