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The Surgeon General called dental caries the silent epidemic, suffered disproportionately by the poor. Homeless mothers/children are especially vulnerable as they lack access to dental care. This prospective study elucidated predictors of access, oral health, and the effectiveness of shelter-based care. A convenience sample of 120 homeless families (children n=236) provided predictor factors at intake and one month later. Nearly half the children (n=98) had dental caries. Ten independent variables explained 33% of the variance of access barriers; the most influential were mental health (B=-.426), oral health beliefs (B=.243), and victimization (B=.185). Ten independent variables explained 24.3% of the variance of oral health: mother's age (B5.351), number of children at the shelter (B=.337), and race (B=.154) had the most influence. Shelter-based care was effective in improving access: 43% of families secured dental appointments and perceived access barriers decreased after shelter-based care (t=4.695; p=<.001).

Focus group methodology was used to describe the medication adherence experience of 24 HIV-infected gay men who reported being adherent to their medication regimens. A conceptualization of medication adherence as an evolving process consisted of challenges to adherence (learning the diagnosis, starting the medications, struggling with the medications, dealing with side effects, coping with stigma) as well as those factors supportive of adherence (believing in medications, finding motivating factors, using reminders, depending on others, owning the disease). Themes associated with challenges to adherence focused on diagnosis and the physical and emotional adjustments individuals made to incorporate antiretroviral medications into their daily lives and move toward medication adherence. The factors supportive of adherence were related to the ongoing behaviors identified with establishing and maintaining adherence behaviors. What can be taken from the study is that adherence is a complex and dynamic process rather than a static behavior.

The article provides a critique of qualitative nursing research regarding children's experiences of being without a place to call home. The phenomena under study were the lived experience of being without a home, feeling uncomfortable, hope, and what was special in the children's lives. Parse's criteria for the critique of qualitative research were used. A synthesis of the interpretive findings about the children's experiences is presented. Recommendations for advancing nursing theory, nursing research, and nursing practice are discussed.