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1 | INTRODUCTION In 2009, the South East Asia Research Collaboration in HIV (SEARCH) at the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre began diagnosing and treating individuals with acute HIV [...], Introduction: The South East Asia Research Collaboration in HIV (SEARCH) RV411 clinical trial in Thailand was a systematic investigation of analytic treatment interruption (ATI) in individuals diagnosed and treated since Fiebig stage I acute HIV infection. Here, we explore decision-making processes and perceptions of trial participation in a phase I trial that raised important ethical considerations, to identify potential areas of improvement in this relatively new field of HIV research. Similar considerations apply to other HIV phase I trials, especially those involving ATI, making this trial a model to identify challenges and opportunities in promoting informed choice. Methods: Using longitudinal semi-structured interviews and a validated questionnaire, we examined how decisions to join or decline the trial were made, whether there was evidence of decisional conflict, and reactions to the trial outcomes. We also explored contrasting views and experiences in this small trial cohort. We report analyses of data from these questionnaires and interviews, conducted from February through December of 2016 with the 14 SEARCH cohort participants who either joined (n = 8) or declined (n = 6) participation in RV411. Results: The eight participants and six decliners had low overall decisional conflict, which remained low over time. Decision making was more difficult for decliners than participants, at least initially. While all interviewees described being satisfied with their decisions, our study identified important negative consequences for a few individuals, including seroconversion, negative experiences with optional procedures and disappointment due to rapid viral rebound. Conclusions: Although our results reflect the experiences of a small group invited to join this trial, our overall finding of low decisional conflict even while some individuals reported negative experiences provides lessons for clinical trial investigators. We developed points-to-consider in helping participants make informed choices, to support participants during the trial and to support decliners in their decisions. Keywords: phase I clinical trials; HIV clinical trials; analytic treatment interruption; research ethics; informed consent; qualitative research

Introduction In 2009, the South East Asia Research Collaboration in HIV (SEARCH) at the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre began diagnosing and treating individuals with acute HIV infection, and [...], : Introduction: The South East Asia Research Collaboration in HIV (SEARCH) RV411 clinical trial in Thailand was a systematic investigation of analytic treatment interruption (ATI) in individuals diagnosed and treated since Fiebig stage I acute HIV infection. Here, we explore decision?making processes and perceptions of trial participation in a phase I trial that raised important ethical considerations, to identify potential areas of improvement in this relatively new field of HIV research. Similar considerations apply to other HIV phase I trials, especially those involving ATI, making this trial a model to identify challenges and opportunities in promoting informed choice. Methods: Using longitudinal semi?structured interviews and a validated questionnaire, we examined how decisions to join or decline the trial were made, whether there was evidence of decisional conflict, and reactions to the trial outcomes. We also explored contrasting views and experiences in this small trial cohort. We report analyses of data from these questionnaires and interviews, conducted from February through December of 2016 with the 14 SEARCH cohort participants who either joined (n = 8) or declined (n = 6) participation in RV411. Results: The eight participants and six decliners had low overall decisional conflict, which remained low over time. Decision making was more difficult for decliners than participants, at least initially. While all interviewees described being satisfied with their decisions, our study identified important negative consequences for a few individuals, including seroconversion, negative experiences with optional procedures and disappointment due to rapid viral rebound. Conclusions: Although our results reflect the experiences of a small group invited to join this trial, our overall finding of low decisional conflict even while some individuals reported negative experiences provides lessons for clinical trial investigators. We developed points?to?consider in helping participants make informed choices, to support participants during the trial and to support decliners in their decisions.

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2008.00398.x Byline: MICHAEL T. WILLOUGHBY (1), R. JEAN CADIGAN (2), MARGARET BURCHINAL (1), DEBRA SKINNER (1) Abstract: This study evaluates the psychometric properties and criterion validity of the Religious Social Support (RSS) Scale in a diverse, representative community sample of new mothers (N= 1,156). Results indicated that two factors best represented the RSS. Criterion validity was established by demonstrating that the RSS was associated with relational and health outcomes. However, these associations were reduced to statistical insignificance once a general measure of social support was included as a covariate. There were no indications that race moderated either the psychometric properties of the RSS or the relationships between social support and outcomes. Qualitative analyses indicated that religious social support is a salient construct in the lives of women that we studied and suggested ways to improve future developments of RSS scales. Author Affiliation: (2)R. Jean Cadigan was affiliated with the Center for Developmental Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 8115, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8115. E-mail:rjcadigan@gmail.com (1)Michael T. Willoughby (willoughby@unc.edu), Margaret Burchinal (burchinal@mail.fpg.unc.edu), and Debra Skinner (skinner@mail.fpg.unc.edu) are all based at the FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 8185, 521 South Greensboro Street, Carrboro, NC 27510. Article note: Correspondence should be addressed to Michael T. Willoughby, FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 8185, 521 South Greensboro Street, Carrboro, NC 27510. E-mail: willoughby@unc.edu

This article examines the various forms of woman-to-woman marriage in sub-Saharan Africa and discusses how each form can or could have been used by a woman to advance her social and/or economic status in society. Woman-to-woman marriage may also be beneficial to the persons involved other than the woman who initiates the marriage (the so-called female husband). The motivations of the other participants are also examined. Cross-culturally, women take wives under three circumstances, all of which enhance the status of the female husband: 1) barren women take wives to gain rights over children produced; 2) rich women accumulate wives to gain prestige and wealth in the same way men do through polygyny; and 3) in societies where women possess the right to have a daughter-in-law, a woman without a son may take a wife to give her a non-existent son., INTRODUCTION Ethnographic studies reveal that many African societies have practiced woman-to-woman marriage, and some still do (Herskovits, 1937; Krige, 1974; Obbo, 1976; O'Brien, 1977; Oboler, 1980).(1) Woman-to-woman marriage, also known […]