While it may seem that many men are reticent to seek professional mental health care, recent studies have shown that close to 90% of the men who die by suicide engaged professional help in the year prior to their death. It is therefore key to understand the barriers and facilitators for men who access mental health care, and identify best practices for mental health practitioners who work with men.

The UBC Men’s Health Research (MHR) Program is committed to translating empirical gendered analyses to tailored health interventions that are accessible, engaging and effective for men and their healthcare practitioners. Under Dr. John Oliffe’s leadership, and in collaboration with Canadian and international researchers and community partners, MHR has designed, implemented and evaluated a suite of gender-responsive interventions in psychosocial prostate cancer (PCa) care, tobacco reduction and smoking cessation in fathers and men, and men’s depression, suicide and broader avenues for mental health promotion.

In the context of the psychosocial needs of men with PCa, with Dr. John Oliffe’s lead, we have guided and evaluated prostate cancer support groups to highlight them as valuable care resources in responding to the psychosocial care needs of men with PCa. Additionally, MHR has led the development and evaluation of If I Were Tom, an e-health resource featuring a series of videos that follow a man’s PCa journey to help guide other men’s and their families’ journey with PCa, especially those facing barriers to in-person support groups. The resource has since been gifted to, and is now hosted by, Prostate Cancer Foundation Canada to respond to shifting psychosocial care needs of men who experience PCa.

In tobacco reduction and smoking cessation, MHR was involved in the development of the innovative Dads in Gear, a 10-week community-based program (check out the study protocol here) supporting men to become involved, healthy and smoke-free fathers, which was subsequently tailored to Indigenous fathers and scaled to Indigenous communities as the Dads in Gear Indigenous program. MHR was also involved in the designing, implementation and evaluation of the QuitNow Men, a gender-responsive e-health toolkit designed to assist men in their efforts to reduce and quit smoking.

Extending to physical activity and lifestyle, we also played a key role in developing, implementing and evaluating HatTrick, a program for men to lead a healthy lifestyle while getting connected with their favorite hockey team (read more about the study protocol here), and PowerPlay, a workplace wellness program for men that offered unique resources to support healthy and active lifestyles. We also continue to provide research and implementation expertise to the Veterans Transition Network, which delivers mental health services, including the Transition Skills Course, Therapeutic Enactment Course and peer support program specifically tailored to Veterans transitioning from military to civilian life.

Recognizing e-health as a new frontier for reaching and delivering tailored interventions to men, HeadsUpGuys, a tailored and free men’s mental health e-resource was developed to provide men with practical self-care tips, screening tools, self-guided courses, inspirational recovery stories and access to an international directory of therapists to seek mental health care support. 

With over 5 million online visits since it was first introduced as an e-health tool, several studies have been conducted to evaluate HeadsUpGuys’ effectiveness as a critical mental health resource for men – check out below the publications led by Dr. John Ogrodniczuk (founder of HeadsUpGuys).

Empowering Men

Dr. Oliffe is also working as co-investigator with Dr. Ashley Hyde, who is leading the CIHR-funded project Empowering Men: A feasibility and pilot randomised controlled trial for an online mind-body wellness program for men with inflammatory bowel disease.

The Movember Men in Mind program (led by Dr. Zac Seidler) is an evidence-based, self-paced, 5-module training course for mental health practitioners delivering mental health care for men with the goal of equipping them with the knowledge and skills to reach, respond to and retain men in mental health care. Since its roll-out in Australia, several evaluations have been conducted to highlight the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of the program – check out the publications below to learn more.

At MHR, we are currently working with Movember on a Canadian mental health system and workforce landscape mapping to support the accreditation and adoption of the Men in Mind program in Canada.