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Abstract

The Men's Health League is a three-year project that targeted men of color aged 18 to 80. The objective of this project was to reduce health disparities in heart disease, stroke and diabetes by implementing a wide range of strategies. Strategies for this project included recruiting and training African American men to build grassroots health leadership, holding community health outreach events in churches, community centers and worksites to provide health education, screenings and connections to primary care, and engaging men in behavior change programs focusing on exercise, social support, and education. A program evaluation was conducted by partner organizations that took a participatory, utilization-focused approach to assessing the participants' change in knowledge and behaviors around nutrition, physical activity, and men's health, as well as change in the proportion of men with health insurance. Evaluation data was collected using a mixed-method approach that included the use of pre/post surveys, interviews, and review of client medical records. Overall, the evaluation findings show that men's health-related attitudes and behavior improved over the course of the program and the access to health care and other social services also improved as a result of participating in the program. Specifically, it was found that the participants increased their level of physical activity and the number of fruits and vegetables consumed on an average weekend. For instance, fruit and vegetable consumption on an average weekend significantly increased from 2.71 at pre-test to 3.18 at the post-test. And among people who reported not having health insurance at the baseline, 86 percent of them (25 out of 29) acquired health insurance by the time they completed the program. NACCHO designated the Men's Health League as a "promising practice in diabetes prevention" in 2010.

Related NPA Goals:

• Increased awareness, education and outreach to address racial/ethnic minority health and health disparities problems
• Improved access to, and appropriate utilization of, health & other community-based services and systems through user-centered design for racial/ethnic minorities (e.g., health IT, culturally/ linguistically appropriate services, service provider education/ training, workforce diversity)
• Strengthened leadership and coordination to leverage resources and enhance effectiveness and efficiency of individual and collective efforts (including, but not limited to, research and data)

Related Healthy People 2010 Objectives:

• 1-3g Increase the proportion of persons appropriately counseled about the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases
• 13-05 Reduce new HIV cases among adolescents and adults
• 13-06 Increase condom use among sexually active persons
• 13-07 Increased knowledge of HIV status among HIV positive persons