Men on the Move

Men in Ireland die younger (4.8y) and have higher death rates than women for most of the leading causes of death at all ages. Physical activity (PA) is a prophylactic to many of the chronic conditions affecting men. PA levels in men reduce with age, which is paralleled by an increase in overweight and obesity. While, only 13% of 18-35 year old men are obese, this increases to 32% (36-50y) and 42% (51-64y), which represents a major public health problem.

Supporting men to modify their health behaviors poses unique challenges to service providers. Male gender role socialization coupled with the service providers' lack of knowledge of how to effectively engage men in health related services often mitigates against working with men. The current study proposes to deliver the Men on the Move (MoM) 16-week PA programme for adult males in 3 communities in 4 ‘intervention’ counties engaging a total of 360 men. The effect [biopsychosocial health measures] of the intervention will be assessed up to 12 months post and compared with matched peers [n=360] in 4 ‘comparison in waiting’ counties. The ‘process’ of delivering the programme will also be investigated and a model of best practice will be developed.