(272) Novel Men’s Health Curriculum Increases Fraternity Members’ Knowledge, Confidence, and Willingness to Seek Help for Health Concerns

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Limited data exist regarding knowledge of male-specific health concerns in young men. We developed a novel men’s health curriculum for undergraduate fraternity members and assessed its impact on knowledge related to, confidence in understanding, and likelihood of seeking help for common men’s health concerns. Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate baseline men’s health knowledge, confidence in understanding men’s health concerns, and likelihood of seeking help for men’s health concerns in a cohort of undergraduate fraternity members and to assess the impact of a novel men’s health curriculum on each of these measures. Methods Members of six undergraduate fraternities viewed a 45-minute presentation about men’s health concerns related to sexual health, urinary function, hormones, and fertility. Interested subjects completed pre- and post-presentation surveys evaluating health knowledge, confidence in understanding men’s health concerns, and likelihood of seeking help for men’s health concerns. Results 189 fraternity members completed at least one of the surveys, of whom 105 completed both pre- and post-presentation surveys. Prior to the presentation, participants answered 57.7% of health knowledge questions correctly. This increased to 88.7% after the presentation (p<0.001). The number of participants who indicated that they are likely to seek help for men’s health concerns also increased from 43.6% to 79.8% (p<0.05) following the presentation. The percentage of participants likely to seek help for concerns about urine stream, erectile dysfunction, low testosterone, and sexually transmitted illness (STI) screening increased by 28.7%, 23.4%, 25.8%, and 12.9% respectively (p<0.05). No changes were observed in participants’ likelihood of seeking help for STI symptoms. Participants’ confidence in their understanding of men’s health concerns and knowing when/where to seek help significantly increased from 2.99 to 4.05 (5-point Likert scale). Confidence, but not health knowledge, correlated with participants’ likelihood of seeking help for health concerns. The strength of this relationship (correlation coefficient) increased from 0.45 to 0.796 (p<0.001) following the presentation. Conclusions Our pilot study suggests that a short presentation on common men’s health concerns increases health knowledge, confidence, and likelihood of seeking help for these concerns. Increased self-efficacy (i.e., increased confidence), rather than knowledge, was associated with increased willingness to seek help. Disclosure Any of the authors act as a consultant, employee or shareholder of an industry for: Boston Scientific, Endo Pharmaceuticals, FirmTech