Adolescent alcohol use and the community health agenda: a study of leaders' perceptions in 28 small towns

Abstract

The study assessed leaders' perceptions of adolescent alcohol use as a public health issue in 28 small communities in northern Minnesota, as part of formative evaluation for a community-based intervention to reduce adolescent alcohol access and consumption. One hundred and eighteen leaders from five key community sectors were interviewed about their perceptions of social, health and alcohol-related problems in their communities. Analyses indicated that school representatives and police chiefs perceived adolescent alcohol use and related problems to be serious; newspaper editors mentioned other social problems more often; and mayors and business representatives did not perceive adolescent alcohol problems to be as serious. In relation to efforts to affect local policy, the study suggested government and business sectors in these communities may need to be educated about the problem to build its importance on the community agenda of health issues. Thus community leaders in some sectors may comprise a key target audience for intervention.

Assessing opinions in community leadership networks to address health inequalities: a case study from Project IMPACT

“…By asking questions about community leadership and local health issues, our research team developed a solid, organic picture of community power and the ways in which influential leaders think about public health. This is important, as community leaders often act as gatekeepers in the formation of the overall public agenda by legitimizing certain issues, minimizing others and allocating resources to address the issues they consider most important [14].…”

“…Regarding our main 'network' question, we asked each participant to nominate at least six other influential leaders; using a snowball sampling technique, these other leaders were then considered as potential interview participants based on their reputations in the community. Very soon, it became clear that the nominations of our initial participants were leading us to a broader collection of influential figures in Milltown from six sectors commonly involved in community-wide decision making: business, education, government/policy, grassroots community groups, healthcare/public health and media [27,14]. In all, we obtained the names of 130 leaders.…”

“…To make the best use of CHA data, so a critical mass of people, organizations and resources can be mobilized to effectively address local health problems [13], practitioners also need a simple, effective way to understand and assess community power. Health promotion campaign planners have used community power analysis in a variety of ways: to assess prevailing leadership resources in Midwestern communities taking part in a heart health intervention [6]; to gauge leadership perceptions about a proposed teen alcohol use intervention [14]; to develop leadership and peer education programs to reduce HI in Harlem and Southeast Chicago [15,16]; and to improve community readiness and mobilize leaders to address obesity and other HI in Latino communities [17,18]. No study, to our knowledge, has explicitly examined the ways in which community power can be mobilized to change the local public agenda about HI, with an eye toward developing an intervention.…”

Alcohol Attitudes and Beliefs Related to Actual Alcohol Experience in a Fifth‐Grade Cohort

“…Other investigators advocate for greater involvement of community leaders to influence public policies and collective action that result in creating better laws, statutes, or rules that bind community members, or renewed efforts to improve or enhance enforcement of existing policies. 22 Even among active drinkers, the majority reported disapproval of alcohol use by someone their age. While these findings indicate that negative messages about the effects of alcohol, or the appropriateness of use by youth have penetrated this age group, health does not appear to be a major driving force in their decision making and beliefs about alcohol consumption.…”

Buzzing health: health education by buzz compared to print media

“…And as hinted at, a buzz campaign may originate with a limited number of formal or informal 'leaders,' such as school representatives, outspoken parents, or popular community leaders (cf. Sosale et al 1999, Gladwell 2000. By consequence, efforts required from the organization are limited as the buzz takes care of itself.…”