Introduction: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of an Internet-based intervention to reduce sexual risk behaviors and increase resilience to sexual risk behaviors among Mexican adolescents, a key HIV/AIDS risk group. Methodology: The study had a quasi-experimental design with single-stage cluster sampling. Participants ages 14–17 were stratified by gender and randomly assigned to either receive intervention “Connect” (which included face-to-face and Internet-based sessions designed to reduce sexual risk behaviors and increase resilience to sexual risk) or control (a general educational video on reducing health risks). A total of 9 survey instruments were administered online through SurveyMonkey pre- and post-intervention to assess changes in sexual risk and protective factors as well as two outcomes of interest: risky sexual behaviors and resilience. Pearson correlation assessed instrument reliability while multivariable linear regression models assessed two study hypotheses: (1) the effect of the intervention on sexual behavior and resilience is mediated by adolescent age, gender, and sexual experience and (2) risk and protective factors are mediators between the intervention and sexual behavior. Results: The sample was composed of 193 adolescents between 14 and 17 years old (n = 96 in the control group and n = 97 in the experimental group). Survey instruments were reliable. Age was associated with pre-to-post test changes in sexual resilience (β = −6.10, p = .019), which partially mediated the effect of the intervention on sexual resilience (β = 5.70, p = .034). Social support was associated with pre-to-post test changes in risky sexual behavior (β = −0.17, p = .039). Conclusion: Intervention “Connect” was independently associated with improved self-reported resilience to risky sexual behaviors, though not with a reduction in those behaviors in multivariate analyses. This is the first Internet-based intervention designed to reduce HIV/AIDS sexual risk among Mexican adolescents.

La asertividad sexual constituye una dimensión fundamental de la sexualidad humana por su relación con distintos indicadores de la salud sexual. Es la capacidad de las personas para iniciar la actividad sexual, rechazar la actividad sexual no deseada y emplear métodos anticonceptivos y así desarrollar comportamientos saludables. Esta se mide a través de la Sexual Assertiveness Scale (SAS). Hasta la fecha, la SAS no se ha validado en población mexicana, por lo que se considera importante examinar sus propiedades psicométricas en esta población. Por lo tanto, este estudio tuvo como objetivo validar la SAS en una muestra de 202 mujeres mexicanas. Mediante un análisis factorial confirmatorio, se confirmó la estructura trifactorial del SAS: inicio, rechazo y embarazo-enfermedades de transmisión sexual (CFI = .953; TLI = .927). Asimismo, se obtuvo una confiabilidad adecuada en las tres subescalas y, de forma global (ω = .85), sus puntuaciones correlacionaron significativamente en la dirección esperada con autoestima sexual y depresión rasgo. Se concluye que la SAS presenta buenas propiedades psicométricas en población femenina mexicana

Introduction: In United States, roughly 1/5 of all HIV infected persons remain undiagnosed. Because HIV testing is critical to improve prevention efforts, more research is needed to understand the characteristics of individuals who get tested for HIV. Methods: This secondary analysis of the 2010 Texas Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System used data from 9,744 respondents between 18-64 years of age to evaluate the relationship between demographic characteristics (gender, race/ethnicity, age, area of residence, education, marital status, employment status, and income), healthcare characteristics (insurance status, having a primary provider, and access to healthcare), and HIV risk behaviors with ever having received an HIV test. Results: Significant associations between gender, age, area of residence, marital and employment status, and HIV risk behaviors and HIV testing in a Texas population by race/ethnicity were observed. Conclusions: These findings have important implications for future research into racial/ethnic disparities between lifetime HIV testing, and can help guide practitioners who work with populations at risk for HIV/AIDS in Texas.

As the demand for cultural awareness in the provision of nursing care continues to increase, nursing programs must develop creative and effective teaching strategies and curricula to address this need. The evaluation of a five year, funded, North American nursing exchange project developed and implemented by six partner universities in Canada, Mexico and the United States of America is described in this article. The project was designed to enable nursing students to increase cultural awareness, redefine their role relationships with nurses from the partner countries, and increase knowledge regarding the health care systems and role of the nurse in those countries. Findings provide evidence that teaching nursing through a prism of cultural awareness, using both a jointly taught online course and student and faculty exchanges across the three countries is an effective strategy to increase the level of cultural awareness in nursing students.

Along the Mexico/United States border, migrants are at increased risk of HIV. The objective of our study was to investigate the relationship between two process indicators (self-efficacy to prevent HIV and coping with sexual risk) and safe sexual behaviors in migrants. A correlational design was used. Migrants were recruited from two cities on the northern border of Mexico. Transition theory informed the measurement of self-efficacy and coping process indicators. Three generalized linear models were built for each safe sexual behavior outcome: (a) partner communication, (b) use of condoms, and (c) safe sex. Of 311 migrants, indicators of self-efficacy and coping with sexual risk were associated with all three outcome measures of safe sexual behavior (p < .05). Process indicators explained 22.5% to 30.6% of the variance in the data. Therefore, self-efficacy to prevent HIV and coping ability are important correlates of migrant sexual risk behavior.