title: Male callers to NHS Direct: the assertive carer, the new dad and the reluctant patient.
abstract: It has been suggested in the light of mortality and morbidity rates, and men's reluctance to seek medical help and advice, that there is a crisis in men's health. Little is known about men's experiences of using health care services, despite an emergent UK men's health movement. NHS Direct, the new telephone advice line, was designed to be more accessible, convenient and responsive to the public's needs for health care. In-depth interviews with male callers to the service, aged between 29 and 59, reveal that they sought help in their roles as fathers, partners and on their own behalf. Having used it once, they anticipated doing so again. Their learning about health matters, from both the formal structure and the informal agenda of the telephone consultation, suggests the potential of men's use of this service for 'normalizing' help seeking by men, and thereby for longer-term improvements in men's health.
authors.affiliation: School of Education, University of Nottingham, UK. jackie.goode@nottingham.ac.uk
authors.forename: Jackie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Goode
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hanlon
authors.forename: Donna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Luff
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: O'Cathain
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Strangleman
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Greatbatch
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D012737:Sex Factors; D013689:Telephone; D006113:United Kingdom