A novel approach to educating men about preventative health in the digital age

Background

In the modern era, many men spend inadequate time focusing upon healthy living. However, men are increasingly “connected” by email and mobile Internet devices, which are now commonplace at most socio-economic levels. We hypothesized that reaching men electronically, with 90 second video clips on men's preventative health topics might provide effective health education.

Methods

Six health topics felt to be of broad interest to men were selected for video preparation. Literature reviews led to the preparation of 90 second video clips, termed Men's Health PITCHes. These were sent electronically to a cohort of men and women who had previously consented to receive electronic health-related information from our hospital. PITCHes were also made available through the Facebook and Twitter social networks, and our hospital website. Data regarding the email open rates, the average viewing time, and total viewing time for each video were collected for up to 1 year after the delivery of the first PITCH.

Results

The average email open rate for the six videos was 30.74%, which compared favorably to standard healthcare industry open rates. Less than 1% of recipients of each PITCH requested removal from the email list. There was a total of 2,951 viewing sessions comprising a total viewing time of over 85 hours.

Conclusion

Short men's health educational video clips may be an effective way of reaching men with important health information. Capitalizing upon digital communication permits rapid dissemination of useful men's health information, reaches a large numbers of viewers, and may impact men's health-related behaviors.