Health Education Research Advance Access originally published online on May 5, 2005
Health Education Research 2005 20(6):730-738; doi:10.1093/her/cyh033
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‘You ain't going to say...I've got a problem down there’: workplace-based prostate health promotion with men
1 Institute of Health, School of Health and Social Studies, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
2 Correspondence to: A. Dolan; E-mail: a.dolan{at}warwick.ac.uk
Prostate health has emerged as a key health issue for men. Nearly 10 000 men die from prostate cancer each year and many more live with non-cancerous, but debilitating, prostate conditions. Despite the widespread prevalence, evidence suggests that men lack knowledge about male cancers and conditions, and are more likely to ignore signs and delay seeking help. Health promotion with men in the workplace is, therefore, increasingly being advocated as an important way of providing men with health information and encouraging them to see a health professional where appropriate. However, there has not been a developed account of men's views on health promotion within the workplace. This paper presents the findings of a small-scale qualitative study that explored men's perceptions and experiences of three different workplace-based health promotion interventions to improve prostate health awareness and their attitudes towards the workplace as an appropriate setting for promoting men's health. This paper shows that men generally welcomed a workplace-based health promotion campaign targeted specifically at them. However, the masculine ‘culture’ of the workplace, where concerns about health were likely to be met with ridicule rather than concern, was one important factor in understanding these men's views of different health promotion interventions.