What Does Men's Health Education Look Like in Australian University Health Curricula? A Formative Evaluation and Future Enhancement Opportunities

Abstract

OBJECTIVESDeveloping the capacity of the health system, and the practitioners within it, to provide quality gender responsive care to men and boys remains critical to advancing men's health, and reducing health inequities amongst men. The aim for this study was to undertake a formative evaluation of Australian university health curricula for men's health content and scope the opportunities for future enhancement.METHODSA two-stage evaluation first involved a review of online course information for a sample of medicine ( n = 10), nursing ( n = 10), pharmacy ( n = 10), clinical psychology ( n = 10), social work ( n = 12) and public health ( n = 15) university curricula for men's health and gender content and opportunities for curricula enhancement. Secondly, university staff completed a survey on the coverage of men's health in their course(s), and receptivity, barriers and facilitators to curricula enhancement.RESULTSThe curricula review found no dedicated men's health courses, and men's health was referenced in the information for 10 of 1246 courses (0.8%) in 8 of 67 curricula. Gender was rarely referenced in course information, particularly for the disciplines of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and clinical psychology. There was an average of 16 enhancement opportunities per curricula with 40% relating to communicating and engaging with men within healthcare. Seventy staff from 25 universities and all target disciplines validated the curricula review findings of limited dedicated men's health content. Eighty-three percent were receptive to curricula enhancement, facilitated by content integration into existing courses.CONCLUSIONThis review provides clear evidence that there are gaps, opportunities, and educator receptiveness for improving and implementing content regarding men's health education and gender responsive care in Australian university health curricula.