Using near-Peers to Communicate with Hard-to-Reach Youth

Background:  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Violence Prevention is developing an initiative to promote respectful, nonviolent dating relationships for 11-to-14-year-old youth in high-risk, inner-city communities (YHRICC).  Due to concentrated poverty, lack of resources, and exposure to community violence, YHRICC may be at an increased risk of teen dating violence (TDV). In addition, few, if any, TDV prevention programs exist for this audience. As part of the initiative, CDC plans to engage 15-to-18-year-olds who have significant influence on their younger peers, to help reinforce messages about healthy dating relationships.

Program background:  Research has shown that near-peers, or youth who are slightly older and more experienced, yet still similar to our 11-to-14-year-old target, are one of four key influencers of the YHRICC audience.  Peers are a powerful source of influence in general, but their influence is particularly relevant with regard to the topic of dating violence, abuse, and relationships, and may be even more impactful than the influence of parents, media, or school-based programs for these topics.  Research also shows that teens often aspire up to the behaviors of their slightly older near-peers.  Therefore, it is important to explore how to effectively leverage the relationship near-peers have with 11-to-14-year olds, and understand how to engage near-peers as a channel for positive change. 

Evaluation Methods and Results:  We utilized a three-phased approach to collect learnings and best practices for engaging near-peers in a TDV prevention initiative targeting YHRICC.  Phase I includes conducting a literature review of peer-reviewed journals and less formal reports and analyses on near-peer outreach to hard-to-reach youth. Phase II includes conducting community based research with organizations focused on YHRICC to understand what has worked for related topics (e.g. gang violence, HIV/AIDS, drug prevention) allowing us to capture unpublished experience-based information on near-peer outreach.  Phase III includes industry based research to understand best practices in implementing peer outreach or brand ambassador programs in the private sector (e.g. BuzzAgent, Word of Mouth Marketing Association).  While these industry examples may not be directly related to the audience or topic, they will offer useful information about the process of developing and implementing ambassador type programming.  Each of the three phases will provide unique and relevant insights on how to best engage near-peers.

Conclusions:  Synthesizing the findings from the three phases of research will identify the intersection of the various approaches and techniques to engage near-peers or brand ambassadors.  We will share how these areas of overlap translate into actionable learnings in designing outreach to near-peers, including how best to approach engaging and equipping near-peers to become effective agents of change, particularly related to TDV prevention. 

Implications for research and/or practice:  Through community trainings, the best practices and learnings will be shared with community programs to develop customized efforts to engage near-peers in initiatives designed to increase awareness of healthy dating relationship messages and ultimately change attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, and norms.  How communities can customize their initiatives to be relevant for their specific audience or issue will be discussed.