HDHS: Pre-Appointment Men's Health Checklist

"Men need time and space to formulate responses to personal questions..."

An important aspect of improving men's health from a social perspective is to improve the ability of medical services to take into account circumstances in a man's life that may influence health.

Sometimes, of course, these circumstances are not purely medical and can include factors such as outside stresses,  relationship issues or other factors.

These checklists provide very useful prompts for both the male patient and medical workers to start asking the kinds of questions that will uncover broader problems.

How This Can Work

When a man is considering attending a medical appointment, or if he is in a context where he may pick up information that leads him to consider making an appointment, the receptionist or another 'neutral' person can provide this form with other forms or on its own for the man to read while he waits.

What is hoped for is that, during the time he is waiting, he will start to devrelop answers to questions on the form and ideally he would be open to raising or discussing common questions listed on the form that he may not have considered.

What Does This Say About Communicating With Men?

This case study and resource offers insight into the way that men absorb and take action on health information:

• Men need time and space to formulate responses to personal questions.  Practitioners can improve the level of readiness to these personal questions by offering simple checklists or surveys to reduce the surprise factor.
• It is helpful to pose questions and allow men to come up with a response.  Even if the response they develop is not strictly accurate, it can provide an opportunity to then discuss what they knew and did not know.