Men's Educational Group Appointments in Rural Nicaragua. (March 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Campbell, Bruce B.; Gonzalez, Hugo; Campbell, McKenzie; Campbell, Kent
• Is Part Of: American journal of men's health. Volume 11:Number 2(2017)
• Page Start: 294
• Page End: 299
• Publication Date: 2017-03
• Subjects: health awareness -- community outreach -- social determinants of health -- hypertension; Men -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Sex factors in disease -- Periodicals; Men -- Health and hygiene -- Periodicals; Men -- Health and hygiene -- United States -- Periodicals; Men -- Medical care -- Periodicals; 362.10811
• DOI: 10.1177/1557988316678509
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1557-9883

Abstract

Men's preventive health and wellness is largely neglected in rural Nicaragua, where a machismo culture prevents men from seeking health care. To address this issue, a men's educational group appointment model was initiated at a rural health post to increase awareness about hypertension, and to train community health leaders to measure blood pressure. Men's hypertension workshops were conducted with patient knowledge pretesting, didactic teaching, and posttesting. Pretesting and posttesting performances were recorded, blood pressures were screened, and community leaders were trained to perform sphygmomanometry. An increase in hypertension-related knowledge was observed after every workshop and community health leaders demonstrated proficiency in sphygmomanometry. In addition, several at-risk patients were identified and follow-up care arranged. Men's educational group appointments, shown to be effective in the United States in increasing patient knowledge and satisfaction, appear to function similarly in a resource-constrained environment and may be an effective mechanism for reaching underserved men in Nicaragua.