Gender inequalities shape the experience of food insecurity among women living with HIV (WLHIV). We systematically reviewed the impact of food insecurity on sexual risk behaviors and antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence among WLHIV. We included qualitative or quantitative peer-reviewed articles, extracted data in duplicate, and assessed rigor. Seven studies, from sub-Saharan Africa, North America, and Europe, met inclusion criteria. Food insecurity was associated with increased sexual risk through transactional sex and inability to negotiate safer sex. Hunger and food insecurity were barriers to ART initiation/adherence. Multidimensional programming and policies should simultaneously address poverty, gender inequality, food insecurity, and HIV.

Evidence supports the prevalence of a high-trauma class experiencing poorer mental health, and the detrimental impact of aggregated interpersonal and other traumas. We highlight the clinical importance of addressing polytraumatization classes, and comprehensively assessing the impact of all traumas.

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To capture the functional role of reckless and self-destructive behaviors (RSDBs) in posttraumatic stress disorder’s (PTSD) symptomatology, the E2 symptom was added in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. However, the lack of a validated, comprehensive, and clinically useful measure is a significant barrier to the assessment/treatment of PTSD’s E2 criterion. We developed and validated a measure assessing PTSD’s E2 criterion (Posttrauma Risky Behaviors Questionnaire [PRBQ]). We used two trauma-exposed samples who completed the PRBQ with additional RSDB and mental health measures: 417 participants recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and 530 college students. We followed recommended guidelines to develop the PRBQ; the PRBQ measured a unitary construct of RSDBs and demonstrated very good–excellent internal consistency (.94 and .82 in community and student samples, respectively). The PRBQ demonstrated convergent validity with measures of RSDBs (significant r/rs/rpb range = .10–.68) and mental health (significant r/rs/rpb range = .29–.65), and construct validity wherein severity and clinically significant levels of PTSD’s E2 criterion were associated with higher PRBQ scores. The PRBQ had incremental validity in predicting PTSD’s E2 criterion above and beyond an established measure of RSDBs (Risky Behaviors Questionnaire) in the community sample. Our results provide initial support for the utility, reliability, and validity (content, convergent, construct, and incremental) of the PRBQ in uniquely assessing PTSD’s E2 criterion (posttrauma RSDBs). The PRBQ is a practical and valid alternative to using PTSD’s single-item E2 criterion or a time-consuming battery of different RSDB measurers in clinical practice.

We conducted a systematic review of studies that have evaluated invariance of the construct of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to summarize their conclusions related to invariance/noninvariance and sources of noninvariance. In November 2017, we searched Pubmed, PSYCINFO, PILOTS Web of Science, CINAHL, Medline, and Psychological and Behavioral Science Collection for abstracts and articles with these inclusionary criteria: peer-reviewed, including DSM-IV or DSM-5 PTSD invariance as a main study aim, use of multigroup confirmatory factor analyses, and use of an independent PTSD instrument or module. In total, 45 articles out of 1,169 initially identified abstracts met inclusion criteria. Research assistants then followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines to complete a secondary search and independently extract data. Results indicated that DSM-IV dysphoric arousal and DSM-5 hybrid model factors demonstrated the most stability; sources of instability were some intrusion (distress to trauma cues), dysphoria/numbing (traumatic amnesia, foreshortened future, emotional numbness, detachment), and arousal (hypervigilance) items. The PTSD Checklist and PTSD Reaction Index were most often used to assess PTSD in studies investigating its invariance; however, these measures demonstrated partial conceptual equivalence of PTSD across subgroups. Instead, clinician-administered measures demonstrated more conceptual equivalence across subgroups. Age, gender, cultural/linguistic factors, and sample diversity had the least moderating effect on PTSD's symptom structure. Our review demonstrates the need to examine invariance of the PTSD construct following recommended guidelines for each empirical and clinical trial study to draw meaningful multigroup comparative conclusions.Clinicians and researchers use diverse instruments to measure the psychological construct of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Scores obtained from these instruments are compared across subgroups, using statistical tests that depend on-yet assume-empirically established conceptual equivalence of the construct of PTSD. From a latent variable model perspective, participants with the same true PTSD factor (latent) score interpret and/or respond to PTSD-related items in a conceptually similar manner (i.e., same probability of observed scores), and PTSD items similarly capture the latent symptomology of PTSD across subgroups (Bauer, 2017;Dimitrov, 2010;

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To examine the existing knowledge base on trauma experiences and positive memories, we conducted a scoping review of trauma and post-trauma factors related to positive memory count. In July 2019, we searched PubMed, Medline, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Embase, and PTSDpubs for a combination of words related to “positive memories/experiences,” “trauma/posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD),” and “number/retrieval.” Twenty-one articles met inclusion criteria (adult samples, original articles in English, peer-reviewed, included trauma-exposed group or variable of trauma exposure, trauma exposure examined with a trauma measure/methodology, assessed positive memory count, empirical experimental/non-experimental study designs). Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines, two authors reviewed abstracts, completed a secondary search, and independently extracted data. Our review indicated (1) that depression and PTSD were most researched; (2) no conclusive relationships of positive memory count with several psychopathology (depression, acute stress disorder, eating disorder, and anxiety), cognitive/affective, neurobiological, and demographic factors; (3) trends of potential relationships of positive memory count with PTSD and childhood interpersonal traumas (e.g., sexual and physical abuse); and (4) lower positive memory specificity as a potential counterpart to greater overgeneral positive memory bias. Given variations in sample characteristics and methodology as well as the limited longitudinal research, conclusions are tentative and worthy of further investigations.