Latinas in the United States are disproportionately affected by cervical cancer, a disease that can be prevented, detected, and treated. As the U.S. Latino population continues to grow, the need for effective, culturally appropriate programmatic efforts for preventing cervical cancer among this population is heightened. To improve timely Pap screening and follow-up care among low-income, rural Latinas, formative research was conducted with this population and used to inform the development of a community-based intervention. Focus groups were held with twenty-seven Latinas in a rural North Carolina county to assess knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding cervical cancer prevention. Findings indicate that respondents were *This study was part of the Cervical Cancer Prevention Project, which is conducted by the American Social Health Association and funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cooperative agreement U57/CCU415013-03.

While significant gains have been achieved in understanding and reducing AIDS and hepatitis risks among injection drug users (IDUs), it is necessary to move beyond individual-level characteristics to gain a fuller understanding of the impact of social context on risk. In this study, 6 qualitative methods were used in combination with more traditional epidemiologic survey approaches and laboratory bioassay procedures to examine neighborhood differences in access to sterile syringes among IDUs in 3 northeastern cities. These methods consisted of (1) neighborhood-based IDU focus groups to construct social maps of local equipment acquisition and drug use sites; (2) ethnographic descriptions of target neighborhoods; (3) IDU diary keeping on drug use and injection equipment acquisition; (4) ethnographic day visits with IDUs in natural settings; (5) interviews with IDUs about syringe acquisition and collection of syringes for laboratory analysis; and (6) focused field observation and processual interviewing during drug injection. Preliminary findings from each of these methods are reported to illustrate the methods' value in elucidating the impact of local and regional social factors on sterile syringe access.