242895 March Mustache Madness: Raising Awareness About Men's Health

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Michael J. Rovito, PhD , Department of Public Health, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Janna Manjelievskaia , Department of Public Health, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Levani Odikadze , Department of Public Health, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Peter Zavitsanos , Department of Public Health, Temple University, Blue Bell, PA
March Mustache Madness is an annual month-long event launched by the Men's Health Initiative. The goal of this event is to promote healthy behaviors among men and support testicular and prostate cancer screenings and research. All interested men are asked to grow facial hair during the month of March to help raise awareness to the topics so important to men. Further, a fundraising component is implemented to support the efforts of local men's health organizations and the community outreach endeavors of the Men's Health Initiative.Each week in March focuses on a different topic: testicular cancer, prostate cancer, masculinity and overall men's health awareness. The programs facilitated during March Mustache Madness include roundtable discussions and informational sessions conducted by a Health Educator. Attendees receive the most current information about the health topic of the week, as well as resources for health facilities, screening and test sites. The use of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter plays a role in communicating health messages and keeping participants up-to-date. The purpose of this event is to implement novel strategies to communicate health messages to the target population.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Communication and informatics
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
The learner will be able to identify successful strategies for communicating health messages to the target population in order to implement healthy behaviors.

Keywords: Male Health, Screening

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a research intern with the Men's Health Initiative, which launched the March Mustache Madness campaign, as well as an intern at the Risk Communication Laboratory, which works with effective health communication and messages.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Men's Health Caucus Poster Session
See more of: Men's Health Caucus