Identification of community leadership in the development of public health education programs

This paper deals with the identification of community leadership within the context of a community cancer prevention education program. An unusually high age-adjusted black/white mortality ratio exists for cervical cancer in Forsyth County, North Carolina. In response to this problem, a comprehensive public education program dealing with cervical cancer prevention was developed and currently is being implemented. Black community leaders have played an important role in planning for the program and in providing assistance for program implementation. Leaders were identified by means of a modified snowball technique in which ten recognized leaders in the black community initially were contacted and asked to name at least five other leaders in areas of leadership that included social/civic, political, religious, business, and less visible leaders. This process continued until no new names were generated. Interviews were conducted with 103 persons, and 589 leaders were identified. A cohort of 54 top-ranked leaders were identified, and the characteristics of these leaders are presented. The value of the leadership identification process is discussed in terms of (a) the identification process itself, (b) the generation of a list of key individuals who can serve as sources of advice for development and implementation of the program and as the beginning point for dissemination of new information on the project, and (c) a mechanism for development of a sense of community ownership of the project.