How we know it works

We evaluated the impact of the Positive Speakers on audience participants throughout the pilot stage of the programme. Now we have the findings.

The end of March saw the completion of the pilot stage of the Positive Speakers Programme.
During the pilot stage of the programme, a total of 32 sessions were delivered to a wide range of groups including schools, FE colleges and healthcare professionals and health and social care trainees. The impact of the sessions was measured through questionnaires which asked audience members to rate how strongly they agreed or disagreed with a set of 8 statements before the talk and again following the talk. 

What did we find out?

We evaluated people’s attitudes around who is at risk, life with HIV, rights of positive people, and working with / being friends with positive people. The information gathered shows that the audience’s attitudes around HIV and towards HIV positive people, significantly improved after hearing the Positive Speakers.

“When you hear people with HIV stories, you can understand it more. It made me see it differently.”

• Following the session, there was a positive shift in attitudes around all of the areas evaluated
• The most negative attitudes before the session were around positive people being sexually active, positive people’s right to confidentiality at work, and life expectancy of positive people.
• These were also the three areas in which the most progress was made following the Positive Speakers’ talk
• The number of people who believed they had the right to know a colleague’s HIV status reduced by 50%
• Negative perceptions of life expectancy with HIV were 66% less following the Positive Speaker session
• Biggest reduction was in the number of people believing that positive people shouldn’t have sex; this was reduced by 75%

The findings of our evaluations are detailed in the Positive Speakers Evaluation Summary, and the full Positive Speaker Evaluation Report.