Book Reviews
Promoting Men's Health: Developing Practice
Neil Davidson and Trefor Lloyd
ISBN: 978-0-702024-16-0 2000 336 pages Bailliere Tindall
Tom A Laws
Lecturer, Division of Health Science, School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of South Australia, SA
The book consists of 23 chapters divided into three parts. The first three chapters are concerned with developing practice in the context of promoting men's health. The second part, having 19 chapters, identifies how practice has been is evolving in various locations. Apart from the chapter by Richard Fletcher, a well honed focus on developments in men's health in Australia, the content / context is entirely UK (health issues, data, strategies and policy). However, there is a high degree of transferability (research term) in the content of this book. That is, the experiences of UK authors and the points presented are likely to be applicable and meaningful to practitioners in countries with a similar socio-economic framework. The final part has a single chapter tilted guidelines for practice. Authored by Neil Davidson (ed), this chapter provides an overview of the salient points raised in previous chapters culminating in a table of guidelines that offer clear direction for those working with men. The guidelines take the form of well-informed comment and are couched in terms of common sense statements and every practitioner is likely to benefit from this wisdom.
The preliminary chapter by Trefor Lloyd (ed) is extensively referenced, outlining the historical trajectory of men's health as well as thrashing out central assumptions made about men and their health behaviours. The concept of masculinity is well explored and related to factors such as unemployment, suicide and men's propensity to seek help for health problems. It is a thoroughly good preparatory read for the ensuing chapters.
There is some overlapping of morbidity and mortality data between chapters but this information is used appropriately in the weighting of issues. Highlights among the wide range of chapter topics are: Chapter 16 and its emphasis on innovative health promotion strategies for preventing skin cancer; Chapter 6 'It takes two' explores attitudes and beliefs of practitioners toward men and contraception with a neat section on maximising consistency when taking a sexual health history. Chapter 7, ' Developing resources' is an anecdotal account of the results of various approaches to reaching young men leaving the reader with a good understanding of the do's and don'ts for working with this group. The chapter 'psychosexual therapy' recounts the female author's experiences in that setting and contains some very well chosen case abstracts that exemplify a wide variety of issues held by men. The ninth chapter identifies the increasing sales of men's magazine and their potential as a vehicle for health promotion messages. This point is skilfully juxtaposed with comments on the non - healthy messages contained within the mags.
The remaining chapters consist mostly of accounts of experiences from authors involved in special projects with men (self-help groups, promoting sport, well men clinics, a specific weight loss campaign for middle aged men as well as community health and primary health approaches to a variety of issues). There are also discrete chapters on distinct groups (black men, prisoners, gay and bisexual men, men who suicide and those with testicular cancer). In summary this book will elevate a nurses understanding of what is possible in health promotion and the guidelines emanating from the experience of the authors provide an excellent reference point for the practitioner. Hearing of practitioner's attempts at health promotion and their wins and tribulations also provides for a rewarding read.
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