Popular Opinion Leader

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.

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.

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.