Dissemination of PCORI Information Specifically Targeting Males and Male Health Outcomes

Men die younger and in greater numbers than women of nine of the top 10 causes of death. Among healthcare professionals, the crisis in men’s health is well known but often misunderstood or ignored. Within the broader men’s health crisis, there is one area where differences between male and female mortality and morbidity are especially stark: mental health, the most visible manifestation of which is suicide. Across all ages and ethnicities, American men commit suicide at far higher rates than women. According to the most recent CDC data, between the ages of 15 and 64, roughly 3.5 times more men than women commit suicide.

Men’s Health Network is proposing to make use of the key findings of a PCORI-sponsored expert panel that will be convened in the spring of 2019. This panel of key stakeholders will identify gaps in both the assessment and treatment of behavioral and mental health issues in males, as well as best practices. MHN will leverage its own database along with stakeholders’ expertise and outreach capabilities to build a knowledge repository that will aid in information dissemination. The objective is to apply an Agile lifecycle to the overall information and dissemination effort through a continuous cycle of distributing information and evaluating the effectiveness of those efforts. The project team plans to get further support from key stakeholders to (a) analyze the most appropriate ways to reach a variety of specific market segments, (b) help design and evaluate meaningful metrics for measuring the success (or shortcomings) of such dissemination, and (c) identify additional stakeholders and others who will be able to bring this information to an even broader audience. With this refined strategy, the team intends to work with PCORI to identify and disseminate other relevant information, PCORI-funded research findings and facts of interest to stakeholders that can improve the lives of men and their families.