Development of a men's health index / Muhammad Ashraf Khalid
Men have a higher burden of disease and mortality as compared to women across the globe. Despite this alarming phenomenon, focus on the health of men is notably absent in global health policies and programmes. One facilitator that might potentially capture the attention of policymakers, health pr...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Published: |
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/14774/4/ashraf.pdf http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/14774/ |
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| Summary: | Men have a higher burden of disease and mortality as compared to women across the
globe. Despite this alarming phenomenon, focus on the health of men is notably absent
in global health policies and programmes. One facilitator that might potentially capture
the attention of policymakers, health professionals, and academics is the development of
a men’s health index. An index can function in two major ways—to assess the magnitude
of a problem, and to monitor changes in the problem, both over space and time. The
purpose of this study is to examine the global state of men’s health by developing a men’s
health index. This study was conducted in three phases. In phase 1, a scoping review was
conducted to explore theories, models, and frameworks in men’s health studies. In phase
2, another scoping review was conducted to identify existing population health indices
and to examine the methods used to develop these indices. In phase 3, a health index that
measures health-related behavioural outcomes of countries and territories was developed
to show the poorer health status of men as compared to women across the globe. The
scoping review in phase 1 found theories, models, and frameworks of men’s health to be
either generic to health sciences, generic to social sciences, or specific to men’s health.
Three types of processes were observed: behavioural, cognitive, and gender processes.
The scoping review in phase 2 discovered a low number of population health indices that
measure specific health topics or health of specific sub-population. There is also lacking
in the usage of universal theories, models, or frameworks in developing these indices. In
phase 3, the developed health index comprises of five dimensions of health-related
behaviours: (1) healthcare utilization, (2) diet, weight and physical activity, (3) substance
use, (4) risk-taking, and (5) violence. The index evidently shows that men perform more
health-compromising behaviours as compared to women and this gap remains consistent
over the years. The index also shows significant associations with healthy life expectancy and the gender inequality index. The health index presents a multidimensional global
assessment of health-related behavioural outcome, which explains the poorer health status
of men as compared to women. The behaviours represented are modifiable lifestyle habits
and the resulting adverse health effects of these behaviours are preventable. The index
may serve as a baseline assessment and monitor the effectiveness of men’s health policies
and programmes over the years. The comparable measure of the index provides objective
assessment and potentially helps health policy design using evidence-based decision
making to address men’s global burden of ill health. |
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