DH asks MHF to develop new health information material for men

The Men's Health Forum (MHF) is now into the last year of its Health Information Project, designing new health information resources aimed at different groups of men from socially disadvantaged groups.

The first phase of the project, completed at the end of 2010, focused on a robust research study looking at the wyas in which men from different age groups and backgrounds responded to a variety of health information campaigns and messaging.  This involved both scoping existing literature but also generating primary research findings by speaking with health professionals and groups of men themselves.

Building on this, the project is now entering its design and production phase.  The MHF is working with social marketing and design agency The Hub to develop a range of different resources.

Stephen Sibbald, director of operations at the MHF, said 'What's really exciting about this is that we are approaching this design phase with a completely open mind and are not ruling out any approach at this stage.  The research clearly showed us that segmentation was key to the success of health information making an impact on men.  We need to understand that different men at differing stages of their lives will respond to and engage with health messaging in different ways.  For that reason, we are open to considering non-traditional routes for delivering health information including the use of new media, mobile technology and building on the popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook.  We need to adapt our approaches and recognise that when it comes to health information, it is simply not good enough to talk about "men" in general anymore.  One size clearly does not fit all'.

For more information about the project, please contact stephen.sibbald@menshealthforum.org.uk.