Pit Stop - caring for rural men’s health
Dr Jennifer Moffatt, University of Queensland, Australia*
Dr Delwar Hossain, University of Southern Queensland, Australia
Mr Garry Hansford, GPConnections, Australia
Pit Stop is an innovative program to engage men in changing their health behaviour. The poorer status of rural Australians’ health when compared to their urban counterparts is well-documented. Contributing to this are poorer health risk-factor profiles, lower levels of education and income, greater exposure to physical risks through road travel and occupation, and less ability to access health services. In addition, men are more reluctant than women to seek medical advice/intervention.
This program provides the opportunity for men to complete a confidential health check in a non-medical environment. This paper reports on Pit Stop at FarmFest, one of Queensland’s largest agricultural field days.
The Pit Stop program consists of seven health screening checks (blood pressure; BMI; alcohol; smoking; testicular, bowel and skin cancer), using a mechanical theme. This uses the idea that men will readily give their vehicles a ‘pit stop’ check, so this is an opportunity to have their own health checked. At each station, the man is required to answer a few questions or have some measurement conducted which gives a pass/fail result. For those with a ‘fail’, recommendations for action are made and further information on this aspect of their health is provided.
During the three days of FarmFest, almost 1000 men took the opportunity to have health screening tests. The results indicate that while only a small proportion of these men have significant health risks, many need to take action to improve their health status.
The strategy that underlies Pit Stop, to take health services to rural men and to offer them in a non-medical environment, was successful. Not only does this strategy raise the profile of men’s health to men, it also provides valuable data on men’s health that can be utilised in planning, and to contribute to the larger picture on men’s health.
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