WHO IS AN OPINION LEADER?

Studies published in the Journal for American Medicine and the American Journal of Public Health indicate that “gay community attachment” is vital in sustained behavior change. The gay/lesbian/bisexual community is typified by its own cultural, social and behavioral norms, and therefore effective AOD prevention efforts must reflect and mobilize the culture of the gay community, enlisting support from the gay and lesbian press, bar owners, youth and church groups, sex club owners and community leaders.

In the gay community, like any other cohesive social network, there is a subset of people who are opinion leaders, those individuals whose beliefs, practices and behaviors are noticed and emulated by others. If these opinion leaders are observed by others to adopt an innovation that seems valued, it can begin to spread through the population. Ultimately the population norm changes as more and more people accept change.

Based on this research and using innovative methods developed by the Center for AIDS Intervention Research and the Medical College of Wisconsin, MAPP developed a program in 1996 to train popular opinion leaders in the metro Detroit gay community to serve as endorsers of healthier behaviors to their friends. The opinion leaders promote the reduction of alcohol and substance abuse and sexual risk behaviors through informal, one-on-one interventions.

Working with gay bars and community organizations, MAPP selects, recruits, and trains popular, credible, well-liked gay leaders to serve as active, visible proponents of risk reduction behavior change to their peers.

Through a four-part training program, these opinion leaders are taught to talk with friends to promote a new “social norm” (the behavior that is expected and accepted within one’s social network) of risk avoidance in their communities.

Opinion leaders are taught to correct friends’ misconceptions about substance/alcohol use and its link to STDs and HIV, and to specifically recommend practical strategies for implementing change. Training emphasizes that conversational messages be delivered in ways that are positive (rather than fear-inducing), encourages the opinion leader to use himself or herself as a positive example rather than “preaching” to others, and stresses the efficacy of successfully making change. The intervention explicitly focuses on the responsibility that people have to protect the health and well-being of their friends, sexual partners and their community.

The Opinion Leader training program has been successfully used to trained hundreds of gay and lesbian adults throughout Michigan.