title: A Community-Level Assessment of Barriers to Preventive Health Behaviors Among Culturally Diverse Men.
abstract: There are significant gender disparities in health outcomes and health care utilization in the United States, with men experiencing more of these disparities. It is critical to ascertain the interplay between societal conditions, health behaviors, and access to services and the impact of these factors on health outcomes and utilization of health care. The present study is part of a larger initiative titled, The Men's Health Study: Addressing Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors, which has two purposes-to annually assess the motivators of and barriers to health-promoting behaviors among culturally diverse men attending the Men's Health Forum (MHF) and to use this information to develop an intervention program that facilitates healthy lifestyle behaviors among men. The MHF is a community-driven initiative for medically underserved men in Tampa, Florida that offers free health screenings and wellness exhibitors in order to empower men to lead a healthy lifestyle. The purpose of this article is to identify barriers to engaging in health-smart behaviors (e.g., cancer screenings, physical activity) among culturally diverse men who participated in the MHF and to detect any demographic differences among these barriers. A total of 254 men participated in the study. Findings identify that age was the only demographic variable that had a statistically significant association with any of the cancer-screening barriers. Some cancer-screening barriers appear to exist among all demographic groups since no statistical demographic differences were discovered. Income and education were significantly associated with barriers to engaging in health-smart behaviors. This may give researchers, health educators, and providers information needed to customize interventions to promote health and preventive health care among culturally diverse men.
authors: Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL, USA jenna.davis@moffitt.org.
authors: Jenna L
authors: JL
authors: Davis
authors: Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL, USA.
authors: Brian M
authors: BM
authors: Rivers
authors: University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.
authors: Desiree
authors: D
authors: Rivers
authors: University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors: Carolyn M
authors: CM
authors: Tucker
authors: University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors: Frederic F
authors: FF
authors: Desmond
authors: University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors: Tya M
authors: TM
authors: Arthur
authors: University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors: Guillermo M
authors: GM
authors: Wippold
authors: Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL, USA.
authors: B Lee
authors: BL
authors: Green
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D054526:Men's Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011314:Preventive Health Services; D014481:United States
keywords: cancer; health promotion; men; prevention