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Objective: Latino STYLE is a family-centered, HIV-focused intervention (HIV) emphasizing cultural factors and parent-adolescent communication. We hypothesized that, compared with a general health promotion (HP) intervention, the HIV arm would improve caregiver and adolescent HIV knowledge, attitudes, parental monitoring, sexual communication, and family relationships after a 3-month postintervention period. This article reports on the short-term findings of the longer trial.Methods: A single-site, two-arm, parallel, family-based, randomized, controlled trial was conducted; eligible participants were Latino adolescents aged 14-17 and their primary caregiver. The study was conducted at the University of South Florida with 227 adolescent-caregiver dyads allocated to the HIV (n = 117) or HP (n = 110) intervention after completing a baseline assessment. Interim measures at 3-month follow-up included demographics, HIV knowledge, self-efficacy, parental monitoring, sexual communication, family relationships, and adolescent sexual behavior.Results: Adolescents in the HIV group reported small effects in parental permissiveness and the HP group reported small effects for family support. Caregivers in both groups reported decreases in all outcomes. Incidence of past 90-day sexual intercourse decreased in both treatment arms. Among those who were sexually active over the past 90 days, the number of sex acts decreased from baseline, particularly in the HIV group. The percentage of condom-protected sex acts increased in the HIV group and decreased in the HP group, but did not reach statistical significance.Conclusions: The HIV Latino STYLE intervention was not efficacious in improving hypothesized outcomes over a 3-month period. However, exploratory analyses revealed moderate effects for decreases in adolescent sexual risk behavior, particularly in the HIV group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Surgeon General's report, "Culture, Race, and Ethnicity: A Supplement to Mental Health," points to the need for subgroup specific mental health research that explores the cultural variation and heterogeneity of the Latino population. Guided by cognitive anthropological theories of culture, we utilized ethnographic interviewing techniques to explore cultural models of depression among foreign-born Mexican (n = 30), Cuban (n = 30), Columbian (n = 30), and island-born Puerto Ricans (n = 30), who represent the largest Latino groups in Florida. Results indicate that Colombian, Cuban, Mexican, and Puerto Rican immigrants showed strong intragroup consensus in their models of depression causality, symptoms, and treatment. We found more agreement than disagreement among all four groups regarding core descriptions of depression, which was largely unexpected but can potentially be explained by their common immigrant experiences. Findings expand our understanding about Latino subgroup similarities and differences in their conceptualization of depression and can be used to inform the adaptation of culturally relevant interventions in order to better serve Latino immigrant communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]