see also ... Canberra PHC 2000 Rural Workplaces
5th National RHC Alice Springs

Abstract of Paper for Clinical Skills in Men's Health Conference
University of Newcastle 19-21st September 1999
Health Practitioners Pathway to……………Men and Boys Health

Our paper will highlight the MAN model, which develops partnerships with General Practitioners, Health Providers and Community Groups to meet the needs in their community, focusing on men, families and boys.

The MAN model adopts a Best Practice and Evidence Based approach with projects that successfully stimulate community response by "confronting" men and boys with culturally relevant health and wellbeing programs. This has had a significant impact on the expectations for health care within local communities and given a greater awareness to Practitioners and communities of the issues that confront men and boys.

This is achieved by providing support, training and professional development programs for practitioners on:

• Men's Health Programs
• Lifeskills Program for Adolescents
• General Practitioner Professional Development Sessions
• The value of Evaluation and Research
• The value of sharing results with all Practitioners, and in the case of the Adolescents Program sharing the results with Parents, Teachers and the Health Community.

We believe our future is in providing information and research based on data, findings and academic discussion, through our collaboration with LaTrobe University, Bendigo and to guide 'GP Practices' and 'Community Health Services' to be better able to meet the needs of men and boys health and wellbeing by developing better skills and maintaining a Best Practice approach.

We shall highlight our work with a Men's Health Report prepared by LaTrobe University, Bendigo, based on 4000 men involved in our programs and the findings from 2000 adolescents involved in our Year 10 Program across 3 states.