BoroManCan: working with local communities to improve men’s health and wellbeing

Background

BoroManCan is a campaign to inspire positive behavioural, health and culture change around men’s health and wellbeing in Middlesbrough, North East England. There is increasing recognition of the need to address specific health problems experienced by men, as well as inequalities between men. However, relatively little is known about how best to promote men's health or encourage uptake of services. More research is needed, particularly relating to complex, multi-strategy approaches like BoroManCan.  

Richie Andrew from Public Health South Tees approached Fuse through our rapid response and evaluation service AskFuse for help in understanding what has worked so far in relation to BoroManCan, and where improvements can be made. Fuse researchers from Newcastle, Teesside and Durham Universities came forward to develop a collaborative funding application to answer these questions.

The team were awarded competitive funding from the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration for the North East and North Cumbria (ARC NENC), to undertake an 'evaluability assessment' of BoroManCan. The aim is to get agreement on future evaluation plans and measurable outcomes. We will also explore views and experiences of BoroManCan activities to identify any barriers to local men getting the help they need.  

The research

The study will involve:

• A scoping review of literature on evaluations of similar men’s health promotion initiatives
• Interviews with BoroManCan team members and partner organisations
• Research with local men, designed and conducted by peer researchers
• Analysis of existing data relating to BoroManCan activities
• A review of digital delivery and engagement, e.g. the BoroManCan podcast, website and Facebook group.

In line with the co-production approach of BoroManCan, a group of Men’s Health Champions will be trained as peer researchers and supported to gather insights from other local men. Findings will be shared and discussed at a workshop involving the project team, peer researchers and partner organisations. Outputs will include a logic model and plan for large-scale evaluation of BoroManCan. Findings and outputs will be made publicly available and shared widely so they can inform the development and evaluation of similar initiatives aimed at addressing men’s health and gender equality.

Last modified: Tue, 02 Mar 2021 10:40:41 GMT