A randomised controlled trial of the impact of the 'Man Up' documentary on men’s intentions to seek help

INTERVENTION: Brief name: ‘Man up’ Documentary Our project is based on the premise that the degrees to which men conform to traditionally held views of masculinity (such as stoicism, reliance on self, and avoidance of expression of emotion) can be changed, and that this will ultimately enhance their wellbeing. A three‐part documentary has been developed in collaboration with our sub‐contractor, Heiress Films, that will explore the impact of masculinity on mental health in Australia. It will be shown on free‐to‐air television in October 2016. Prior to the the screening of the documentary this randomised controlled trial will be undertaken to evaluate the imapct of the documentary on male viewers. Adult male participants will attend a group meeting (maximum 20 participants) with the researchers participants, wherein they will individually complete baseline questionnaire measures on individual ipads (Time 1). These meetings will mostly take place at the researcher’s offices on campus in central Melbourne. Some meetings will also take place in outer suburban and regional Victorian locations. At the end of the meeting participants will then be randomly allocated to either view the documentary (intervention) or view an unrelated documentary (control) and emailed a web link to the documentary so that they can watch it at home. The documentary is in three parts of one hour each. Participants will use the link provided to access the documentary online and will view it at home, or other convenient place, either alone or with immediate family/household members. They will be asked to view the documentary within one week of their meeting with researchers. Immediately after viewing they will be asked a few questions about their impression of the documentary, also online (Time 2). Four weeks after viewing the documentary they will again be asked to complete an online questionnaire via email (Time 3). This questionnaire will repeat the baseline measures and will also ask for some qualitative feedback regarding the documentary. Participants will be asked to complete this questionnaire within two weeks of receiving it. Study conditions in the control arm of the study will be the same as those in the intervention arm, with the exception of the documentary that they view. Participants within arms will each experience the same study conditions. Adherence to the trial method will be assessed in two ways. The dates that each participant completes each stage of the trial (Time 1, 2,3) will be automatically recorded at each stage, so that we can determine if participants completed these stages within the requested time frames. In order to determine whether participants viewed the documentary there will be a series of ‘test questions’ asked at the end of their viewing at Time 2. CONDITION: Men's Health Men's mental heallth Suicide Well being PRIMARY OUTCOME: A change in intentions to seek help as measured by an adapted version of the General Help Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ) (Wilson et al. 2005. Measuring help seeking intentions: Properties of the General Help Seeking Questionnaire. Canadian Journal of Counselling, Vol. 39(1), 15‐28.). ; ; SECONDARY OUTCOME: A change in conformity to masculine norms as measured by the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI‐22)(Mahalik et al. (2003). Development of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 4, 3‐25). ; ; ; ; The K10 is a ten item scale that asks about symptoms of psychological distress in the past four weeks ; ; ; The MOS Social Support Survey is a 19 item scale that assesses four aspects of social support: tangible support, affectionate, positive social interaction and emotional or informational support ; ; ; This questionnaire asks: If you were having a personal or emotional problem, how likely is it that you would seek help from the following people or services? eleven responses are provided: intimate partner, friend, parent, other family member, mental health professional, phone helpline, doctor, minister or religious leader, I would not seek help from anyone, I would seek help from another not listed above. Respondents rate the likelihood on a seven‐point scale. We modified this scale by providing an additional three responses: online health chat rooms, online searches for health information, and social media. We also repeated the questionnaire twice asking the same question regarding recommending help for a male or female friend. The primary outcome is the questionnaire related to intentions to seek help for self. ; The CMNI‐22 is the 22 item version of the Conformity to masculine norms inventory. This is a self‐report measure that assesses conformity to masculine norms across 11 norms including: winning, emotional control, risk‐taking, violence, dominance, playboy, self‐reliance, primacy of work, power over women, disdain for homosexuals, and pursuit of status. ; A change in gender role conflict as measured by the Gender Role Conflict Scale Short Form (GRCS‐SF). (Wester, SR., Vogel, DL., O’Neil, JM & Danforth, L. (2012). Development and evaluation of the Gender Role Conflict Scale Short From (GRCS‐SF). Psychology of Men and Masculinity. 13(2): 199‐210). ; Gender role conflict is a condition in which rigid or overly restrictive male gender roles conflict with incompatible situational demands and lead to negative consequences for men and those around them. This 16 item scale is a brief version of the larger 37 item scale. The scale represents four factors: restricted emotionality; success, power and competition; restricted affectionate behavior between men; and conflicts between work and family relations. ; A change in psychological distress as measured by the Kessler‐10 scale (K10) (Kessler RC, Andrews G, Colpe LJ e t al . Short screening scales to monitor population prevalences and trends in non‐specifi c psychological distress. Psychol Med 2002; 32:959 – 976). ; A change in resilience as measured by the Connor Davidson Resilience Scale (CD‐RISC‐10) (Kathryn M. Connor & Jonathan R.T., D. Development of a new resilience scale: The Connor‐Davidson Resilience Scale (CD‐RISC). Depression & Anxiety (1091‐4269). 18, 2, 76, Sept. 2003. ISSN: 10914269). ; The CD‐RISC 10 is a briefer version of the full 25‐item CD‐RISC. The scale assesses one latent factor of resilience in individuals with items such as: ‘I am able to adapt when changes occur’ and ‘Under pressure, I stay focused and think clearly’ ; A change in social support as measured by the MOS Social Support Survey (Sherbourne, CD, Stewart, AL. 1991. The MOS social support survey. Social Science & Medicine. 6, 705, 1991. ISSN: 0277‐9536). ; A change in suicidality as measured by the Adult Suicide Ideation Questionnaire (ASIQ) (Reynolds W.M. (1991). Psychometric characteristics of the Adult Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire in college students. Journal of Personality assessment, 56, 289‐307) ; INCLUSION CRITERIA: Self‐identifies as male who is aged 18 or more at time of meeting ; The ASIQ is a 25 item scale that is designed to evaluate the presence and frequency of suicidal thoughts in an individual during the past month. It was chosen both for it’s potential to be used as an outcome measure and as a screener for the study. Participants who scored highly on this measure will be assessed by a study psychologist for their suitability for the study ; A change in well‐being as measured by the Personal Well Being Index – Adult (PWI‐A) (International Wellbeing Group (2006). Personal Wellbeing Index. Melbourne: Australian Centre on Quality of Life, Deakin University). ; The PWI‐A contains seven items of satisfaction, each one corresponding to a quality of life domain as: standard of living, health, achieving in life, relationships, safety, community‐connectedness, and future security