POP guys: Protecting the disability community

VOICES/VOCES is a CDC video-based intervention which has demonstrated effectiveness for increasing condom use. The thinking behind the intervention is that participants will see people who look like themselves engaging in healthy behaviors, and that through follow-up discussion and demonstrations, they will gain the skills and confidence necessary to engage in these behaviors as well. This strategy has proven to work. However, none of the actors in the video have a disability. This program, therefore, is not culturally appropriate for our target population, for participants could not be seeing actors who resemble themselves.

We made a video that uses the effective elements of VOICES/VOCES but is targeted for the disability population. POP(guys): Protecting the Disability Community highlights the importance of “pop”: putting on protection. The cast consists of people with disabilities and the video was shot at an urban rehabilitation hospital and the surrounding community. We worked with an award-winning film producer and scriptwriter, and together developed a project that is at once professional yet also authentic to the population we serve. The language and the situations were evaluated to ensure that they “feel real” to the hospital's outpatients yet will also appeal to a larger disability audience. It is available in English (with or without captions) and Spanish.