The first research project actually to ask men what they want to know about their prostates relaunches today. EMHF president Ian Banks is calling on all Europeans interested in men's health to spread the word, reports EMHF website editor Jim Pollard.
What do you want to know about your prostate? The EMHF's Your Prostate project asks men across Europe that simple question. The most amazing thing about this project is that nobody has asked before.
The ‘Your Prostate’ website (yourprostate.eu) answers questions from men about all aspects of prostate health from the most general of concerns though symptoms, diagnosis, support and treatment to follow-up care. Building on the success of the English-language service run earlier this year, the website is now available in three languages:
A research project as well as a service
Men across Europe are often reluctant to go to the doctors. This is a far easier way for them to get the information and support they need.
But as well as being an invaluable service to individual men, this is an important research project. Prostate problems remain an issue that men feel uncomfortable discussing and seeking help with. Yet health policy remains clinically driven without any foundations in what men actually experience. This project aims to remedy that.
Two papers based on the earlier research have already appeared in the Journal of Men’s Health (Volume 7, Issue 3, October 2010: ‘Talking Prostates’ and ‘Opening a window on what concerns men about prostate health’)
Do men think the same in Madrid, Munich and Manchester?
Do men in Madrid or Munich, Manchester or Marbella think the same way and have similar experiences to men in Berlin or Belfast, Barcelona or Bonn when it comes to the prostate? This insight will be critical when it comes to designing health materials.
Dr Ian Banks, the president of the EMHF, is calling on health professionals and organisations across the EU to get behind the project. ‘We must all encourage men to use this site,’ he urges. ‘We have valuable data from the first phase of the project and making the service available in other languages will help us to report on similarities and differences across cultural backgrounds.’
Specialist urology nurses and urologists with an interest and experience of working in the field of prostate health will answer the questions men ask on the website.
So please help us to help men by publicising this initiative as widely as possible.
- This project is supported by an unrestricted educational grant from GlaxoSmithKline.
Press releases and publicity materials
Publicity Flyer (English)
