The purpose of the role model story is to relate the experience of a member of the target population or audience in changing a risky behavior so that other members of the same population can identify with the story and begin to change their perceptions, beliefs, or attitudes in a way that will facilitate changes in their own behavior. There are several steps in the development of a role model story:

Specifying populations and behaviors:

It is important to clearly specify the target audience for the story. Role model stories are more effective if they are about individuals from the population that they are directed toward. To be credible, the role model should reflect the race, culture, and socioeconomic circumstances of members of the target audience.

Identifying a potential role model:

Good role models do not have to be perfect practitioners of the target behavior. The appropriate role model is someone from the target audience who has made some change in a positive direction on a specific behavior to be modeled in the story. Potential role models recruited from the community should be screened in order to determine if the person can provide enough information about his/her experiences to create a role model story.

Conducting the interview:

The interview should take place in a private room without distractions. Ideally, the interview should be taped and transcribed in order to provide the writer with the exact words and expressions of the role model. Interviews generally take 1-1.5 hours, and the role model should provide informed consent to have the story published, as well as a cash incentive for participating in the interview. The interview will yield more useful information if it follows a written guide and uses a loosely structured format. Open-ended questions can elicit useful quotations.

Writing the role model story:

Each role model story should emphasize a specific behavior change based upon the stages-of-change model. This might be:

1. the role model's movement from one stage of change to the next for a specific behavior (e.g., from Contemplation to Preparation for condom use with a main partner);
2. a relapse into less safe behavior and subsequent movement forward to a higher stage; or
3. maintaining a current stage in the face of strong temptations to relapse to riskier behaviors.

There are several elements to include in a role model story:

• Characterization: The story should provide enough information about the role model to personalize the individual and establish credibility with the target audience.
• Membership in target population
• Risk behavior: The story should address a risk behavior relevant to the audience and the context in which the behavior occurs.
• Goal: There are a number of different goals that could apply to a given risk behavior; however, each story should contain only one specific behavioral goal.
• Influencing factors: Each story should describe the factors that influenced the role model to change his or her behavior. These factors are typically specific events that make a person think or act differently.
• Barriers to change: Each story should describe a specific barrier the role model encountered in trying to change his/her behaviors and should also describe how the role model overcame this barrier.
• Positive outcome: The story should include the positive outcome or consequences of the action which reinforces the adoption or intention to adopt the behavior.

Reviewing, testing, and revising:

Initially, stories should be pretested before they are used to ensure that they are readable, credible, and understandable to the target audience. This can be done through focus groups of the target audience, or taking a sample of stories into the community and asking individuals from the target audience to look at them.

Publishing the story:

Materials should be designed to be attractive to the target audience. It is important to consider the size of materials, paper and colors to be used, and artwork or illustrations. The name of the program or project should be easily identifiable on the material. In addition, other health-related information (e.g., information on condom use, HIV transmission, or other community health services in the community) can also make the materials more attractive and useful to the target audience.