What Would You Like to See in a Mens Health Awareness Campaign

Dr Galen

Prompted by a post in the Daffodil Day/Mens Cancer thread, I think its a good question to ask you guys.

What is it that you'd like to see in such campaigns by the likes of Irish Cancer Society or the like.

I know in the UK, organisations like EveryMan work hard to make sure their message goes to the right audience, with the right messages and thigs that guys will repsond to, like the Rachel Stevens youtube video (would it be crass to post it again I do love her a lot)

I suppose I'm asking how could a charity like this get your attention for long enough to get some of their facts and need to knows across?

cocoa

Cheers for starting the new thread, you're dead right that it doesn't belong in the other one. I'll try and get some more info for you tomorrow, for now here's a little bit of food for thought. (I hope...)

There are lies and there are damned statistics. There is the danger in charities that people make allowances based on the fact that it's for a good cause. It is not unheard of (though it is shockingly under-reported in the media) for charities to defend the use of questionable and sometimes downright false statistics on the grounds that they serve a useful purpose.

and they're right. If I tell you about a disease or illness which is quite rare by most peoples standards (let's say, 1 in 1000 people are likely to contract it every year), but which is still quite serious and which, I feel, you should check for by doing xyz, you might listen. On the other hand, if I tell you about a disease which belongs to a group of diseases which 1 in 3 people will contract over a lifetime and which leads to a debilitating and painful death, I've really got your attention. From my point of view, the person who feels you need warning, getting your attention is a good thing.

The problem is that everyone does it, so risk is emphasised and inflated, but we're still humans, we aren't actually taking in any more information, but we are worrying more.

What I'd like to see in an awareness campaign are simple guidelines for avoidance and/or detection as relevant, and well laid out statistics about incidence and age. When there's a simple little thing (or even a big thing!) I could be doing to lower my risks, I greatly appreciate hearing about it, but when the risk is already very small and can't easily be reduced much further, I do not appreciate having worry impact on my mental health.

(sincerest apologies for the rant/lecture... in hindsight 'little bit of food for thought' was a poor choice of words...)

banquo

This is a great idea for a thread.

/my pitiful contribution

OldGoat

I like the idea of the short sharp message with facts laid out clean and clear and concise.
Dressing awareness campaigns in videos, fun runs, gigs, rednosed comedy nights seems to me to have the effect of diluting the intended message and giving Joe Soap 'Awareness Fatigue'.
I see different colored ribbons about the place and I have no idea what they represent at this stage as I've simply tuned the message out.

The "Smoking Kills" is to me the best type of information distribuation. It does exactly what it says on the tin. There is no mistaking it and everybody tends to accept it as true. Sadly we all don't take good advice when it slapped into our faces, <Looks longingly at the humidor>, but there is no denying that the message is known.

Time to bring back the information service TV adds.
No waffle, no background music, no background images. A 30 second ad on the TV during news broadcasts stateing in the message in the simplest language possible. "Men, get your prostate checked. It's a blood test. More information at your G.P. clinic.". Have various messages on a rota so that there is something fresh every now and then to maintain interest.

mudokon

If it's a health campaign related to a physical ailment then all I want are facts & they could be limited to the at risk age range, what the symptoms are & steps to reduce the risk. Maybe add a website address for further information.

If they were social problems such as suicide then a different tactic is obviously needed as barking facts at you would not be much use.

OldGoat

mudokon wrote: »

If they were social problems such as suicide then a different tactic is obviously needed as barking facts at you would not be much use.

Oh I don't know. The ads might not have any effect on the potential suicide directly but it could teach others around to perhaps spot the some telltale signs being exhibited by the potential suicide.

But yes, I agree that the ads is not perfect solution. There is no perfect campaign solution. The mose effective campaign must be one that uses a pronged attack, using various methods rather then just one. Then the task is to walk the fine line between raising awareness and boring people into blindness to the campaign.

CDfm

Ordinary stuff

- cholesterol -getting it checked and lowering it

- testicle checking/ prostate - how to etc

-decent giving up smoking ads -the current ones are embarresssingly twee

basic ads -black and white infomercials -none of the overproduced twaddle we have,

Snowie

I think that another good issue would be depression I think men need to know that at times its ok to feel down, and that others do sufffer from it...
more importantly there is help.

what would be a very interesting idea would be to have a booklet that insted of just had words but had a face and a man who has suffered from some of the ideas above that way then it seems more real. Insted of words printed on peaper...

kinda like armstrong and his battle with testicular cancer.... But not nescerilly famous people.... kinda like a short story a couple of sentinces about what they suffered and how they resolves the problem....

The_Minister

Another vote for testicular and prostate cancer awareness - no big fuss, but just a simple list of possible risk factors and identifyers.

mudokon

OldGoat wrote: »

Oh I don't know. The ads might not have any effect on the potential suicide directly but it could teach others around to perhaps spot the some telltale signs being exhibited by the potential suicide.

But yes, I agree that the ads is not perfect solution. There is no perfect campaign solution. The mose effective campaign must be one that uses a pronged attack, using various methods rather then just one. Then the task is to walk the fine line between raising awareness and boring people into blindness to the campaign.

The difficulty with ads targetted at spotting the possible signs of someone contemplating suicide would then be how does that person then deal with that information if they have the idea in their head that someone they know is considering suicide. How would you broach the subject with that person?

Definitely a pronged attack is the best option. With the main emphasis being on educating men that it is not a sign of weakness to need to talk to someone. Which I think is still a huge problem.

Edit: I also agree with campaigns around testicular & prostate cancer. Especially testicular cancer as it can affect men from their teens onwards. There is so much focus placed on breast cancer but you never here a mention anywhere regarding testicular cancer.

Herbal Deity

Correct grammar.

OldGoat

As a point of interest does anyone know the relative percentages of Breast, testicular and prostate cancers? There is a lot of info about breast cancer but is that in proportion to it's occurrences vs. prostate and testicular?

Dr Galen

what do you mean exactly OG? like broken done by age and gender?

OldGoat

Stats frenzy and exploding pie charts. Yay!
Just wondering if anyone has assess to the figures or ratios (new cases diagnosed perhaps) of breast, prostate and testicular cancers in Ireland per year.
As was mentioned above breast cancer seems to get a disproportionate amount of attention in comparison to testicular. I'm just interested in the numbers of cases of each if anyone has a source.

Dr Galen

If you have a peek in the daffodil day thread I've posted some stats. Is that what you mean?

Bottle_of_Smoke

I'd like to see the health and superficial advantages of doing weights/going to the gym promoted more.

If more people did this we'd have people feeling more confident/happier in themselves in the short term - less pressure on the mental health service.

In the long term we'd see lower rates of diabetes/heart disease due to lower rates of obesity. Working out also helps your bones.

Would personally prefer if this was targeted toward women too.

Herbal Deity

What's with people who work out thinking that it's the answer to everything?

I've gone to the gym once or twice. I absolutely fúcking hate it. Do not see the appeal at all.

Sport and exercise in general could be promoted more, not confined solely to the gym. Different strokes and all that.

Me? I prefer going running out in the open. Must get back into it.

Boston

Guess where I come into most contact with Gay Men's Health literature? That right, gay bars. But for some reason I've never seen pubs and clubs which are frequented by young people targeted by campaigns aimed at young people. I guarantee I know more about sexual health then the average heterosexual Irish male, why? Because there are campaigns targeting me in an effective may. The same organisations do up little booklets for how to minimise risks of drunk use. I've never seen the like of it.

I was at a sporting event afters a month or so back. The organisers had taken to liberty to make sure that every table had condoms. A class idea, and something most people where complete surprised by even though we all knew there would be plenty of euros going into bathroom vending machines otherwise.

Basically, target your audience.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Herbal Deity wrote: »

What's with people who work out thinking that it's the answer to everything?

Lol everything? relax man, I pointed out a few things:D. I'll admit it won't give you shiny teeth.

I've gone to the gym once or twice. I absolutely fúcking hate it. Do not see the appeal at all.

That's fair enough, but if you'd stuck at a decent program I guarantee you'd like the results. I don't find it particularly great fun other than the rush you get after lifting a heavy weight but I do like the results.

Sport and exercise in general could be promoted more, not confined solely to the gym. Different strokes and all that.

Me? I prefer going running. Must get back into it.

Yeah would be pretty much in agreement all sports should be promoted. However I just think men are pretty ignorant and lazy in general and weight lifting gives the fastest most noticeable results out of all excercise. People really need to stop getting so fat and I'd be happy to appeal to their vanity if that gets results.

Glad you like running but I'm sure you'd agree a lot would find it boring. Plus cardio is pretty tough for smokers, true they shouldn't smoke but in reality they're unlikely to stop.

Herbal Deity

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Lol everything? relax man, I pointed out a few things:D. I'll admit it won't give you shiny teeth.

Heh.

Nah, it's just I've heard so many guys advocating going to the gym so strongly. Out of shape? Go to the gym! Depressed? Go to the gym! Low confidence? Go to the gym!

It can seem almost like a cult at times...

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Glad you like running but I'm sure you'd agree a lot would find it boring. Plus cardio is pretty tough for smokers, true they shouldn't smoke but in reality they're unlikely to stop.

Yeah, I know.

Depressingly, it's been ages since I've gone for a run and I smoke a bit these days too

cocoa

ah, finally hunted down my source for the fear of cancer thing. Firstly, I need to apologise, there is no such study, it was a quote from an oncologist, he suspected that cancerophobia (a word he invented himself) caused more suffering than the disease itself. I also found that surveys by Paul Slovic show that cancer is the only disease whose incidence rate is over-estimated by the public. Found this in 'Risk' by Dan Gardner.

While I thought the 'MANual' linked in the other thread was good, there was parts of it which irked me slightly, and stuck out as designed to increase fear and worry unnecessarily. Two cancers were described as the most common cancer. I think one was in males between 15 and 34 and the other was in general, or something to that effect, but this point was not made in any way clear. I found this fairly unhelpful, like someone saying 'HERE! This is the most dangerous thing, keep your eye on this!', and then another person saying the same again...

In general, statistics were only mentioned if they were worrying, and phrased in such a way as to be more worrying. If the risk is small, list the life-time risk, if the death rate is low, list the incidence rate, etc etc.

Here's a quote 'The risk of a man getting prostate cancer is only 2% less than the risk of a woman getting breast cancer.' Very effective at making me scared, breast cancer campaigns have made the disease very prominent in the public eye, so why not leech off that and say prostate cancer is almost as bad. Useful information, such as the actual incidence rate of prostate cancer, is left out.

But. I liked a lot of it. There was lots of good information about how to reduce risks etc. it's just annoying to have this paired with ambiguous information about the actual risk.

BrianD3

cocoa wrote: »

ah, finally hunted down my source for the fear of cancer thing. Firstly, I need to apologise, there is no such study, it was a quote from an oncologist, he suspected that cancerophobia (a word he invented himself) caused more suffering than the disease itself. I also found that surveys by Paul Slovic show that cancer is the only disease whose incidence rate is over-estimated by the public. Found this in 'Risk' by Dan Gardner.

In Ireland, increased awareness and fear of cancer makes some sense if you look at the CSO stats on cause of death.

1999
7541 deaths from cancer
13380 deaths from circulatory disease

2006
7868 deaths from cancer
9662 deaths from circulatory disease

:eek: at the decrease for circulatory disease in less than decade. While the numbers for cancer have increased slightly. Obviously these numbers are just the raw data and don't take account of changes in population or age profile etc.

CDfm

On Friday a close friend of mine died. Pure lifestyle.

Its ok to publicize specific illness but women do the whole living longer thing better than guys.

So health and life expectany should be linked together.

cocoa

BrianD3 wrote: »

In Ireland, increased awareness and fear of cancer makes some sense if you look at the CSO stats on cause of death.

1999
7541 deaths from cancer
13380 deaths from circulatory disease

2006
7868 deaths from cancer
9662 deaths from circulatory disease

:eek: at the decrease for circulatory disease in less than decade. While the numbers for cancer have increased slightly. Obviously these numbers are just the raw data and don't take account of changes in population or age profile etc.

To be honest, that increase is so small it could even be accounted for by improvements in diagnostics, and your right, the age profiles are very important. To take an extreme example, if 50 die from disease X at age 20, and 5000 die from disease Y at age 90, I'm far more worried about disease X.

Cancer is primarily a disease of ageing, if more people are dying of cancer, without knowing any other facts, one might reasonably assume people are living longer, which is a good thing.

Personally, I take the above numbers as a good sign, we're getting better at treating circulatory disease, excellent. Also, don't you think it's a bit of an over-simplification to lump all cancers in together?

The Black Oil

I'm not sure. 'Oh, go on, just talk about it' seems a little bit limited, in the ads anyway. Maybe we need to look at schools to catch people early and state going to the doc is OK is acceptable. Why is it, for example, when you arrive in college there are many leaflets on sexual health, mental health, etc, all that was in my school was stacks of college prospectuses. It's as if they're saying 'welcome to college, you're an adult now, we can trust you so here's some information'. That said, we did have some guest speakers in school so at least they're trying to cover some angles.

Dr Galen

Boston wrote: »

Guess where I come into most contact with Gay Men's Health literature? That right, gay bars. But for some reason I've never seen pubs and clubs which are frequented by young people targeted by campaigns aimed at young people. I guarantee I know more about sexual health then the average heterosexual Irish male, why? Because there are campaigns targeting me in an effective may. The same organisations do up little booklets for how to minimise risks of drunk use. I've never seen the like of it.

I was at a sporting event afters a month or so back. The organisers had taken to liberty to make sure that every table had condoms. A class idea, and something most people where complete surprised by even though we all knew there would be plenty of euros going into bathroom vending machines otherwise.

Basically, target your audience.

I've seen this type of thing in the UK. Beer mats, adverts right in front of your eyes in the jacks, that sort of thing.

I've also been at various "youth oriented" events in the UK and condoms were almost always iin the goody bags.

it appears from this thread anyway, that us blokes want clear and simple stuff. Facts and figures, what to look out for, and how to lower risks. I think the points about circulatory diseases are very valid, as more often than not, a lot of these issues could be prevented in later life, by lifestyle choices when younger.

Just as a hypothetical, if this forum was to look at some health promotion type things on specific conditions. What would you like to see targetted?

citytillidie

I think a simple approah with the information on it.

Also placing adverts in sports programs on tv might help as not everyone goes to the pub to watch games. Also maybe even on the offical event program like if you go to a Rugby, Soccer or GAA game most guys will buy the match day program why not have adds in these programs too

Dr Galen

i think thats a good idea, and one i know the Irish Cancer Society did recently. Its was like last year when they ran the month for Mens Cancer Awareness, they got people like Johnny Giles involved in the promo work.