More attention needs to be paid to targeting services designed to meet the
health needs of boys and young men, a study by the Government’s Health
Development Agency has recommended.
Men’s health services tend to focus on conditions such as prostate and
testicular cancer or on sexual health, but these services were often delivered
by women.
Traditional masculine characteristics such as risk-taking or reluctance to
seek help because of the fear of appearing weak needed to be taken into
consideration when planning services, it added.
There was no agreed definition of what constituted men’s health and young
men only tended to access services when they were desperate – when fear of the
issue they are confronted with became bigger than fear of appearing inadequate
– it warned.
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Recommendations included providing phone lines or drop-ins where young men
would be able to go without "losing face" and ensuring projects were
endorsed by peers.
