DH asks MHF to develop new health information material for men

The Men’s Health Forum (MHF) has been awarded a three year grant by the Department of Health to develop new health information resources designed for use by local NHS and other organisations to improve the health of men in socially-disadvantaged groups.

The resources will be very specifically targeted at:

1. Young men (aged 16-21);
2. Middle-aged men (40-55);
3. Older men (65+);
4. New fathers (aged approx 25-45).

The first phase of this project has been to undertake a two-tiered programme of research which involves:

• An initial scoping study of academic and ‘gray’ literature to understand better the current provision of health information aimed specifically at men across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors
• This will then inform a second stage of research amongst health professionals and men themselves to explore likely content, format and delivery mechanisms for the information resources which will directly feed into their design.

The MHF has appointed the Centre for Men's Health and social marketing agency The Hub to deliver this research programme which should complete by July 2010.  The findings from the research will then feed into the development of health resources which will be produced and piloted with PCTs around England. The project is due to finish in March 2012.

Stephen Sibbald, director of operations at the MHF, said 'This is a really exciting piece of work for us.  For over eight years, the MHF has already been a market-leader in producing effective health information material aimed specifically at men through its partnership with the publisher Haynes, the latest development of which has been the hugely successful series of Haynes mini-manuals.  This project will allow us to develop the next generation of health information material which will be able to take advantage of new technologies now available to reach specific groups of men set within the context of a social-marketing approach.'