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Kelly, JA, St. Lawrence, J.S., Diaz, Y.E. Stevenson, L.Y., Et al. (1991).
American Journal of Public Health, 81 (2), 168 - 171
Description of Intervention: Popular Opinion Leader (POL)
This intervention was based on theories of peer influence, behavioral standards and social norms, and diffusion of innovations. Bartenders at gay clubs in Biloxi, Mississippi, Monroe, Louisiana, and Hattiesburg, Mississippi were enlisted to nominate opinion leaders, i.e., persons who were popular with others. The intervention was delivered in two parts:
Part I. Popular opinion leaders received four sessions, 90 minutes each§, of HIV education and communication strategies. A male and a female co-facilitator conducted each session.
Session 1: Epidemiology of HIV, risk and protective behaviors, and misconceptions.
Session 2: Characteristics of effective health promotion messages. Facilitators described ways to sensitize others to the threat of AIDS, stressed that behavior change can prevent AIDS, used self as example, and personally endorsed the benefits of change.
Session 3: Conversational examples of effective health promotion messages. Facilitators modeled conversations and opinion leader participants role-played similar conversations.
Session 4: Real-life conversations and problem solving. Participants reported outcomes of actual conversations (see Part II). Facilitators helped them plan for additional peer conversations.
Part II. Each opinion leader agreed to have at least 14 conversations with peers in the bars about AIDS risk reduction. Opinion leaders wore buttons with a logo that promoted the project and matched posters located in the bars. Buttons were ambiguous and served to trigger conversations.
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Intervention Goal(s): To determine the effects of a community-level intervention to reduce high-risk behaviors.
Intervention Setting: Gay bars.§
Population: Of the 659 gay men who completed anonymous baseline surveys, 14% were African American or Hispanic, and 86% were white. Average age was 29 years.
Comparison Condition: The intervention was given to comparison participants at a later time.
Behavioral Findings: Men from the community that received the intervention reported a significantly greater reduction in unprotected anal intercourse than the men from the comparison communities. Contact:
Jeffrey A. Kelly, PhD
Medical College of Wisconsin
2071 North Summit Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53202Phone: 414 456 7700
Fax: 414 287 4209
E-mail: jsherman@post.its.mcw.edu
§Information obtained from related reports or author.
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This study meets CDC's HIV/AIDS Prevention Research Synthesis project criteria for relevance and methodological rigor and also has the positive and significant behavioral/health findings required for the Compendium. Date added 1/99
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