Popular Opinion Leader

An Effective Practice

Description

Popular Opinion Leader (POL) is an intervention program that identifies and trains well-liked people in a community to function as AIDS educators. Based on the social diffusion theory model, natural leaders within a community are trained and enlisted to effectively discuss HIV prevention and safe sex practices with people they know personally. Popular Opinion Leaders can recruit friends and acquaintances as participants, increasing the reach of the intervention within the community. Initially started as an intervention for men who have sex with men, the model has been modified and implemented to promote safe behaviors in other communities, including women, adolescents, drug users, and commercial sex workers.

Goal / Mission

The goal of Popular Opinion Leader is to reach as many people as possible in order to successfully and dramatically reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Results / Accomplishments

In a pre- and post-survey of gay men across seven U.S. cities where the intervention took place, Popular Opinion Leader was found to reduce the percentage of men who had any unprotected sex by 30% and increase condom use by 35%. When implemented for women living in poor neighborhoods across 18 U.S. cities, condom use increased by 50% and there was an improvement in HIV knowledge and a greater perceived risk for AIDS. Resources are available through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for development and implementation of POL programs.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
Center for AIDS Intervention Research, Medical College of Wisconsin
Primary Contact
Center for AIDS Intervention Research
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin
2071 North Summit Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53202
414-955-7700
http://www.mcw.edu/cair/resources/PopularOpinionLe...
Topics
Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Health / Prevention & Safety
Health / Wellness & Lifestyle
Organization(s)
Center for AIDS Intervention Research, Medical College of Wisconsin
Date of publication
2009
Date of implementation
1989
Geographic Type
Urban
Location
USA
For more details
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/prevention/research/rep/pac...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9388397
Target Audience
Teens, Adults, Women, Men

Related Promising Practices

  1. CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Interventions to Reduce Sexual Risk Behaviors or Increase Protective Behaviors to Prevent Acquisition of HIV in Men Who Have Sex with Men: Individual-, Group-, and Community-Level Behavioral Interventions
  2. Connect
  3. HIV/STD Risk Reduction Interventions for African American and Latino Adolescent Girls
  4. Project ORE
  5. Sister to Sister
  6. Video Opportunities for Innovative Condom Education and Safer Sex (VOICES/VOCES)

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Related Content for: Popular Opinion Leader

An Effective Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success and/or promise in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures of improvement in outcome of interest (i.e. increase in voter registration, not just delivery of voter registration drive) and/ or the outcome measure is increased or improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant.