The Popular People Project, 1994

The Popular People Project was undertaken as part of the Queensland AIDS Council's investigation into preventative education interventions in Australia's gay communities. The objectives of the interventions were to decrease levels of unsafe sex, increase knowledge about the risk of different sexual activities and to increase the perception of peer support for Safe Sex within the gay venue attending community. Elements of the project included: the identification and recruitment of opinion leaders, or 'Popular People'; their participation in a four week training course covering information on Safe Sex and HIV/AIDS, and how best to make conversations with friends and strangers in nightclubs; and the conversations in nightclubs initiated by the Popular People. The main variables evaluated were behaviour, knowledge, perception of peer support, and attitudes with regard to Safe Sex practices of members of the gay venue attending community. These were measured by collecting data on areas such as demographics, behaviour, relationship status, knowledge, perception of peer norms and perception of risk and self efficacy.