Utilization of the Community Popular Opinion Leader (C-POL) Model in Alabama

• Sponsor: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S. Fed)
• Overall Status: Completed
• CT.gov ID: NCT00260754
• Collaborator: University of Alabama at Birmingham (Other)
• Enrollment: 600
• Location: 1
• Duration (Months): 33
• Patients Per Site Per Month: 18.2

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

Community members within the treatment city will report: 1)engaging in fewer sexual risk practices; 2)significantly higher condom use; 3) significantly higher rates of STD care seeking (including STD screening behaviors); 4) fewer having STDs in the past 6 months; 5) significantly higher awareness scores regarding syphilis and other STDs, as compared with those in the comparison city.

Condition or Disease	Intervention/Treatment	Phase
Risk Behavior; Sexually Transmitted Diseases	Behavioral: Community-Popular Opinion Leader Model; Behavioral: Diffusion of Innovations	N/A

Detailed Description

The C-POL in Alabama project is and intervention study which sought to impact the health behaviors of community residents who live in zip codes that have high syphilis morbidity. The study is being implemented in Birmingham and Montgomery with shelter clients.

The intervention model used for this study is the Popular Opinion Leader (POL) model, which is effective at reducing new HIV infections. The intent of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a diffusion model (e.g. POL) at reducing syphilis infections in affected communities.

For the intervention, community members identified as popular opinion leaders were recruited and trained to share accurate information about syphilis transmission, symptoms, testing, treatment and prevention. Prior to intervention implementation and several times after, community members were given a survey and screened for syphilis as well as 2-3 additional STDs. During each assessment, cross-sections of the community members were sampled.

Study Design

• Study Type: Interventional
• Allocation: Randomized
• Intervention Model: Factorial Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)
• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Official Title: Utilization of the Community Popular Opinion Leader (C-POL) Model to Achieve Syphilis Elimination in Alabama
• Study Start Date: Oct 1, 2002
• Study Completion Date: Jul 1, 2005

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

1. Changes in syphilis morbidity in affected community []

Secondary Outcome Measures

1. Changes in risk behavior and health care seeking behavior []

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 Years and Older
• Sexes Eligible for Study: All
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Inclusion Criteria:

• Clients who utilized two community homeless shelters in the affected community. The affected community was one that had significant syphilis morbidity at the onset of the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• None

Contacts and Locations

Locations

	Site	City	State	Country	Postal Code
1	University of Alabama, Birmingham	Birmingham	Alabama	United States	35294-0022

Sponsors and Collaborators

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• University of Alabama at Birmingham

Investigators

• Study Chair: Samantha Williams, Ph.D., CDC/NCHSTP/DSTDP/BIRB
• Principal Investigator: Diane Grimley, Ph.D., University of Alabama at Birmingham

Study Documents (Full-Text)

None provided.

More Information

Publications

None provided.

• ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00260754
• Other Study ID Numbers: CDC-NCHSTP-4087; U65/CCU422269
• First Posted: Dec 2, 2005
• Last Update Posted: May 31, 2006
• Last Verified: Dec 1, 2005

• Keywords provided by , ,: Risk behavior; Sexually transmitted diseases
• Additional relevant MeSH terms: Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Study Results

No Results Posted as of May 31, 2006