Diabetes Australia: A Guide For Men With Diabetes

"Integrate advice about disease prevention or management into the contexts of men's lives..."

This factsheet is useful for practitioners and the public to convey easily achievable actions that men can do to prevent diabetes or manage it if it is already present.

Health Promotion Tips For Men

Communicating with men more effectively about preventable illnesses means finding ways to make the information accessible and actionable. Other recommendations include:

• Integrate advice about disease prevention or management into the contexts of men's lives - this means building actions into workplaces, family settings or hobbies. It can also be useful to present information in ways that enables men to balance health-giving actions with their daily obligations - for example, encouraging men to walk rather than phone or email at work, turn time with the kids into active play that exercises both dad and the kids.
• Find ways to positively convey health - men will respond more to ways that they can build healthy living into their routines rather than being told what not to do. Providing easy meal tips, healthy snack ideas and tasty recipes is an effective approach that can gradually steer men towards healthier lifestyles.
• Find ways to encourage existing rewards - rather than denying the option of a drink after work or a favourite snack, include it in advice about routines as a reward, with the proviso that it is done in moderation. Rewards are powerful motivators towards healthier behaviours.