Quick Clear Health Information For Boys and Men of All Ages

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GROUNDBREAKING HEALTH OF MEN RESEARCH - PUBLISHED BY LEEDS METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

February, 2008

 

The Centre For Men's Health, Leeds Metropolitan University, have recently published their concluding Research paper ‘The Bradford & Airedale Health of Men Initiative: A study of its effectiveness in engaging with men'.

 

This five year study was set up to run concurrently with the Health of Men Project with the resulting data collected from 2003. A qualitative methodology was adopted to gain an in-depth understanding of men's decision-making with regard to their health behaviour. Findings are seen as of great relevance not only to the local Primary Care Trust, but will inform the development of services to men at Regional, National and International levels.

The range of data collected has included:-

 

 

To view a pdf document of this report, please click on the link to the right

 

H.O.M HIGHLIGHTED IN BRADFORD COUNCIL'S BEACON STATUS BID

November, 2007

 

In 2001, as part of a grant application to the National Lottery for funding as a Healthy Living Centre, HOM was established as a partnership organisation with Bradford Metropolitan District Council. Although principally staffed by NHS employees the administrative and co-ordinating office of HOM is based within the Council, who also provide management accounting for the project.

 

This partnership has been acknowledged in the Council's recent Beacon Status application. This has now passed through two stages of vetting and the third and final stage will take place in London in January 2008. The Common Criteria of Assessment for the scheme are:- Leadership, Partnership, Community & Voluntary sector Involvement, User Involvement, and Diversity.

 

The National Beacon Scheme exists to recognise disseminate and share excellence within the public sector. Successful Beacons receive funding to assist with the dissemination of good practice and innovation in cooperation with the Improvement and Development Agency (IDEA), the Government and other partners; to help improve services nationally. Bradford Council felt that the Authority was well placed to present with partners, examples of good practice under the theme of 'Reducing Health Inequalities'.

 

One of the key aspects of the HOM project has been the planning of new ideas and programmes for the delivery of men's health services in the workplace. These have been pioneered with Bradford MDC and then rolled out to other employers in the private sector. HOM has also contributed to the Bradford Local Area Agreement  in relation to Floor Targets for health and the ‘Children and Young People' and ‘Healthier Communities and Older People' Themes.

 

In another key part of HOM's delivery, its Health MOT's, these have evolved from general health discussions to much more specific health assessments involving checks e.g. on blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar etc. In these programmes most of the developmental work was piloted with Bradford Council employees i.e targeted at older manual workers on shifts who were less likely than other employees to visit their GP; Please follow the link on the right of the‘Research & Evaluation' page, to view Leeds Metropolitan University 's ‘1st Phase Report 2005' which discusses this work.

 

PUBLICATION of a unique manual by THE HEALTH OF MEN TEAM

- 'MEN'S HEALTH, hOW TO DO IT'

June 7, 2007

A new book is being launched to help health professionals provide the best possible service for men. ‘Men's Health, How to do it', by Radcliffe Publishers, will be unveiled by Alan White, who is professor of Men's Health at Leeds Metropolitan University and chair of the Mens Health Forum. Amongst the guests at the event will be Erick Savoye, director of the European's Men's Health Forum.

The launch will take place during national Men's Health Week on Monday 11 June, between 12 – 2pm at the banqueting suite, City Hall Bradford. The book has been edited by professor Alan White and David Conrad, and the foreword is by Dr Ian Banks - president of the Men's Health Forum - who has written many advice leaflets for the Department of Health and books about male health conditions.

The book features illnesses and conditions common to men such as prostate cancer, advice on healthy lifestyles, and public health information on issues such as smoking, and obesity. It also covers topics such as how best to set up health improvement programmes specifically aimed at men, what approaches to take when targeting men and how to persuade them to take better care of their health.

Nigel Hughes, of Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust, chair of the HOM project said:

“For the past five years, the Bradford and Airedale Health of Men project has been providing innovative and flexible services to the male population of the district. There have been many successes and much has been learnt."

Professor Alan White said: “ Bradford 's Health of Men team are unique, the city should be proud to have a service that is being envied across the world.

This is a medical textbook full of simple but practical advice for health professionals so they can learn from us about what works well when providing health care for men.”

'Men's Health - How To Do It' ed. by David Conrad and Alan White

(ISBN 9781846191923) is available to purchase from all good highstreet and on-line retailers.

 

MEN'S HEALTH WEEK 2007 - 'MEN SITTING ON LONG-TERM HEALTH TIME BOMB'

June 10th, 2007

New research for Men’s Health Week reveals extent to which men suffer in silence. Men are suffering from a range of serious but preventable disabling and potentially life threatening long term health conditions because of their reluctance to seek professional help as well as their unhealthy lifestyles, according to a new report out today.

Launching National Men’s Health Week on long term health conditions, the Men’s Health Forum says that men are more likely than women to develop conditions such as heart disease, respiratory disease and diabetes and to develop them at an earlier age.

According to a survey by The Men’s Health Forum in association with Royal Mail**, one in ten men admits to avoiding seeking help from a health professional because they are scared it might end in a hospital visit. Moreover, an additional ten per cent would rather stick their head in the sand to avoid the embarrassment of discussing their health issues with a doctor.

The research suggests that nearly seven million men in the UK (29 per cent) risk not being checked out for a health problem because they find getting in to see their GP too difficult, because of limited opening hours and problems with making an appointment.

The report says the most effective way of tackling this health ‘time bomb’ would be for health service providers to implement the new Gender Equality Duty to ensure that services are used by men and women in proportion to need. This would reduce the health gap between men and women by ensuring that services are designed, delivered and marketed to appear to both men and women.

Dr Ian Banks, President of Men’s Health Forum said: “This research supports the day-to-day experience of many health professionals that men in particular, for any number of reasons, tend to delay seeking medical help after the development of symptoms...

“If men were encouraged to take control and present for treatment earlier, they would avoid the inevitable health time bomb they currently face. Delaying treatment and ignoring symptoms allows serious conditions to develop and increases the likelihood of an emergency trip to A&E.’

Backed by over 30 other organisations, National Men’s Health Week, the annual event organised by the Men’s Health Forum to raise awareness of – and tackle – the issues affecting the health of men in England and Wales, runs from 11th-17th June. The aim is to develop effective ways of reaching men with long-term health conditions and encourage them to get the necessary health advice and treatment.

Men seeking additional advice can visit the Men’s Health Forum’s consumer website www.malehealth.co.uk for health guidance and links to further help.

**Ciao surveyed 905 UK adult men from 2nd – 15th May 2007

Article sourced from Men's Health Forum

 

CANCER PREVENTION POLICIES ARE FAILING MEN, SAYS NEW REPORT

Monday, 21 May 2007


‘Tackling the excess incidence of cancer in men’, a new report from The Men’s Health Forum, Cancerbackup, Macmillan Cancer Support and the Centre for Men’s Health at Leeds Metropolitan University, documents an expert symposium held last year to discuss why the incidence of cancer and mortality are so much higher in men than women.

Although there are potential biological and lifestyle (smoking, alcohol and diet) explanations for the gap between the sexes for some cancers, for others there are only partial or no explanations at all.

The report calls for an urgent review of the existing evidence about men and cancer and in particular, whether men delay seeking help and guidance when presented with cancer symptoms. It says there should be a study of how men understand and respond to the “vocabulary” of cancer with particular attention paid to the need for “male sensitive” communication strategies.

There is also significant scope to extend the range of settings in which men are offered advice, information, routine health checks and even, potentially, basic treatment.

The report has been sent to Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Health, and to Professor Mike Richards, the cancer ‘tsar’.

The Department of Health is currently reviewing its cancer policy through the Cancer Reform Strategy and this may provide an ideal platform in which to address specific men’s issues. The new Gender Equality Duty, in force since April 2007, also requires action to tackle gender inequities in health.


To access the full text of the report go to: http://www.menshealthforum.org.uk/userpage1.cfm?item_id=2164

MHF patron demands mental health enquiry 

Monday, 04 December 2006

Men's Health Forum Patron Lord Kamlesh Patel has resigned from a key Department of Health role to push for an enquiry into the treatment of black patients by the mental health system.

Decribed by Community Care magazine as ‘the architect of the government's mental health race equality initiative', Lord Patel said he was shocked by the findings of a survey by the Mental Health Act Commission, of which he is the chair, that highlighted different experiences of mental healthcare by ethnic groups. He has now stood down as director of the Department of Health's black and minority ethnic mental health programme to campaign for a national enquiry into a why so many people from ethnic minorities not only end up in the mental health system but have an experience of care that is bad.

In an interview with the magazine 'Community Care', he also criticised the implementation of Delivering Race Equality (DRE), a five-year plan to tackle inequalities in the mental health system that was overseen by the black and minority ethnic mental health programme. Lord Patel, who devised the plan, said he was proud of DRE but it is unfortunate it was introduced last year during the current NHS funding crisis. His view was that race equality and mental health tended to drop off the agenda when ‘the money runs out'.

(article sourced from www.menshealthforum.org.uk)

 

Counselling Conference – Educating Young Men And Boys: Transforming Anger and Violence into ‘Soft Power' and Emotional Intelligence

Friday 24 th November 2006

The Carriageworks, Leeds

Leeds Metropolitan University Counselling Service and the B.R.A.V.E Project are presenting the 3rd Violence Prevention Conference as part of the international campaign – '16 days of activism against gender violence'. The keynote Speakers will be Professor Alan White and the broadcaster and author Elie Godsi. The day will also contain workshops, and is aimed at workers and activists from across the helping professions and anyone interested in the education of young men and boys.

Click on the 'Events' tab above for a pdf booking form

(please return booking forms to s.dewey@leedsmet.ac.uk -

the deadline to book a place is 20th October).

 

MEN AND WELLBEING - A CONFERENCE ABOUT MEN AND THEIR MENTAL HEALTH

Wednesday October 11 th 2006 - 10am-4.30pm

Bradford City FC ground

The above conference on men and their mental health, is a joint event by Health of Men and Mind in Bradford (Menzone). The focus is on how men display (or conceal, or displace) their mental health problems and how they can be encouraged to seek help for them before they become too entrenched or complicated to be dealt with easily or hurt other people.

The event is free with an interactive dramatisation by ACT Forum Theatre and a full programme of national and local speakers, plus an open question and answer session with the speakers panel.

Click on the 'Events' tab above for full details and a booking form to book your place.

 

MEN SUFFERING IN SILENCE FROM COMMON MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS - men's health week survey

12th June 2006

A plea to health professionals to make their services more male-friendly comes this week from the Men’s Health Forum to mark the fifth National Men’s Health Week, which this year focuses on men and mental well being (12-18th June).

Research commissioned by the Forum for the week and published today suggests that more than 18 million men in the UK could be affected by mental health problems, with nearly a fifth of men (17%) admitting to suffering in silence and not turning to anyone for help.

The research, based on a survey of more than 2,500 men and women, finds that 76 per cent of men have experienced depression or anxiety in their lives, with 90 per cent admitting to suffering stress in varying degrees every single week. Work or study is the key trigger for mental health problems (blamed by 48% of men), with financial worries the second most common cause (44%). Fast paced living (27%) and relationship problems (25%) come in third and fourth place respectively in terms of the reason for feeling stressed, depressed or down.

Stress levels of UK men are very high, with nearly half (46%) suffering from moderate or extreme stress in a normal week. Fifty one per cent say they feel down, stressed, depressed or anxious at least once a month and one in 10 men (11%) feels this way a few times a week or every day.

Peter Baker, chief executive of the Men’s Health Forum, said: ‘There is a feeling that if you are a man you have to be strong and tough and cope with whatever life throws at you. But this research proves that for many men common mental health problems are impacting on their lives.... One in three of the men in our study said that if they had a problem they would feel they should just “get on with it”. Of those who have felt down, just one man in three visited a doctor for help compared to almost half of women. Men were also much less likely than women to see a counsellor or therapist.'

The Men’s Health Forum is calling on the government to create a national initiative to help men achieve improved mental well-being. This will involve looking at key public policy issues affecting the mental health of men, such as long working hours, the involvement of fathers in family life, and men’s access to health services. The Men’s Health Forum also believes health professionals require training and support to ensure that the symptoms indicative of emotional distress specific to men are recognised.

Men seeking additional advice can visit the Men’s Health Forum’s consumer website www.malehealth.co.uk for health guidance and links to further help.

Peter Baker said: ‘One of the most worrying statistics is that for more than one in ten men they simply do not know where to get help and that is something we are keen to tackle during National Men’s Health Week.’

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Feeling ill? Need some advice fast? Check out NHS direct online via the following link: nhsdirect

This site represents the hard work and dedication of the health of men healthy living initiative. We are a Bradford based men’s health project dedicated to raising the awareness of men’s health, for further information on the Health of Men project please see the “About HOM” section

On this site you will be able to find out information on men’s health topics such as blood pressure, fatherhood, impotence, the prostate and much more. These topics can be viewed on the “Men's Health Topics" section on the left of the screen. Please link to one and browse the information, you will also find related links to the topic you are browsing.

To find out the latest men’s health news you can browse the news section on the navigation bar, however you can also discover what’s happening in Men’s health in the Bradford area by clicking on the local news link.

You can also use this website to browse the directory of services related to men’s health and health in general, to do this please click on the directory link on the main navigation link.

The health of men healthy living initiative has conducted some excellent groundbreaking work which can be viewed by downloading the annual report from the link above. We have also had some extensive professional research carried out by Dr Alan White from Leeds Metropolitan University. To view this excellent research click on the research and evaluation link above!