Reaching men of color through the women in their lives: Lessons learned from the M-PACT Project

In health promotion research and practice, the emphasis on men of color lags behind the focus on other demographic subgroups, even though African American men suffer a disproportionate burden of diseases such as prostate cancer, relative to other men.  This may be in part because public health researchers and practitioners lack effective strategies to reach men of color.  For many men, the women in their lives serve as the gatekeeper of health in the family2, in some cases making healthcare appointments for the men.  This suggests that men’s health promotion interventions may be enhanced by including the support of female family members.   

In the Men’s Prostate Awareness Church Training (M-PACT) project, lay male community health advisors (CHAs) in African American churches received training in a men’s health curriculum focusing on informed decision making for prostate cancer screening.  The CHAs conducted a 4-part educational workshop series for their male church members.   Given the importance of women in medical decision-making and healthcare accessing among men, the M-PACT intervention 1) included both men and women as CHAs; and 2) asked male workshop participants to invite a female “Health Partner” (e.g., spouse/partner, sister, daughter) to attend the workshops with them.   The current report focuses on the feasibility of recruiting women into a prostate cancer educational intervention for African American men, and lessons learned during the implementation of 76 workshops in 20 churches.  Implications for community-based men’s health promotion will be discussed.