Capital City Alliance has commissioned LSU School of Social Work graduate student-researchers to conduct a study of the quality of life of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer residents of the Greater Baton Rouge area.  The survey should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete, and contains questions regarding local resources, discrimination, politics, LGBTQ families, and demographic information. This study will help LGBTQ community leaders and LSU researchers better understand the experiences of LGBTQ people in Baton Rouge and surrounding areas.  All survey responses are anonymous (individual responses will not be identifiable). 

You can access the survey through the CCA webpage (www.ccabatonrouge.org) or go directly to the survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/cca_qol_2011

Region 2 Empowerment of MSMs
Enhancing Mobilization in Baton Rouge
(R.E.M.E.M.B.R.)

Upcoming REMEMBR Events:

2nd and 4th Wednesday of the Month
 (7:00 - 9:00 pm)
Louisiana Prevention Training Center -
4560 North Blvd. Suite 100-A - 225-923-AIDS
    
     
FREE HIV Testing and additional Health Screening

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HIV Testing During Club Hours

Baton Rouge AIDS Society, with the help of the REMEMBR Team, offers FREE HIV Testing, Counseling and Referral Services on a monthly basis to the community during club hours.  BRASS is the only agency in this area with a mobile testing unit and have partnered with the local clubs for over eleven years to provide testing services.  Currently, testing is financially supported by the community at 100% of funding.  Project P.L.A.N.T. (People Living with AIDS and NEVER TESTED) is the core of our fundraising activities at the agency.  If you see us at the club, please stop by and get your FREE HIV Test and/or sign up to become a REMEMBR Team Member.

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Club and Community Outreach
Specially trained members of the REMEMBR Team help the agency with outreach activities.  This include, but is not limited to:
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Passing out literature and condoms during club hours
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Participating in outreach during special events (Gay Pride Events, etc.)
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Enhancing positive social norms to prevent the spread of HIV.

Popular Opinion Leader Training
Popular Opinion Leader (POL) is an intervention based on a program that identifies, trains, and enlists the help of key opinion leaders to change risky sexual norms and behaviors in the gay community. The program is based on diffusion of innovation/social influence principles, which states that trends and innovations are often initiated by a relatively small segment of opinion leaders in the population. Once innovations are visibly modeled and accepted, they then diffuse throughout a population, influencing others.

Target Population
Men who frequent gay bars

Intervention
A cadre of trusted, well-liked men who frequent gay bars are trained to endorse safer sexual behaviors in casual, one-on-one conversations with peers at the bars and other settings. During these conversations, the “popular opinion leader” corrects misperceptions, discusses the importance of HIV prevention, describes strategies he uses to reduce his own risk (e.g., keeping condoms nearby, avoiding sex when intoxicated, resisting coercion for unsafe sex), and recommends that the peer adopt safer sex behaviors. Popular opinion leaders wear buttons displaying the project logo, which also is on posters around the bars, as a conversation-starting technique. Each leader agrees to have at least 14 such conversations and to recruit another popular opinion leader.

Research Results
The POL intervention produced the following results among patrons of bars where the program was conducted:

  • Unprotected anal intercourse decreased from between 15 to 29 percent
  • Condom use increased
  • Numbers of sex partners decreased

For Details on the Research Design
Kelly, J. A., Murphy, D. A., Sikkema, K. J., McAuliffe, R. L., Roffman, R. A., Solomon, L. J., Winett, R. A., Kalichman, S. C. (1997). Randomised, controlled, community-level HIV-prevention intervention for sexual-risk behaviour among homosexual men in US cities. Community HIV Prevention Research Collaborative. Lancet, 350(9090), 1500-1505.

For More Information About POL, Click Here:

REMEMBR (Region II Empowerment of MSMs Enhancing Mobilization in Baton Rouge)  -  Join Today 923-AIDS