Trust Us on This: Men Don’t Think They’re Too Macho to Visit the Doc
African-American men may delay going to the
doctor—but that has more to do with distrusting the health care system
than with having too much masculine pride, according to a study
published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine and reported by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
For
the study, researchers surveyed 610 African-American men, age 20 and
older, mostly recruited in barbershops all over country. (Scientists
adjusted the results for age, education, income differences, health
insurance status and whether men had regular physician access.)
In
previous studies, researchers found that men who were committed to
traditional masculine roles were more apt to delay health care because
they didn’t want to appear weak. “But this study shows that the
opposite may be true for African-American men,” said Wizdom Powell
Hammond, PhD, an assistant professor of health behavior and health
education at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and the
study’s lead author. “Their delays in getting routine checkups are
attributable more to medical mistrust, and their beliefs about
masculinity may not always have a negative impact on their use of
health care.”
It’s well-known that men of all races and
ethnicities are less likely than women to use preventive health
services, such as cholesterol and blood pressure screenings. But
brothers wait even longer to seek care if they feel sick or notice
symptoms.
What these findings showed is that black men who
said they mistrusted the medical system were more than twice as likely
to delay checkups and cholesterol screenings and three times more
likely to delay having their blood pressure checked by a physician than
men who were less mistrustful.
To improve the health of
African-American men, we should consider addressing why they don’t
trust the health care system and its providers, researchers recommended.
“Health
care providers and public health professionals also might consider
leveraging traditional masculine self-reliance in interventions and
clinical encounters as a way to empower African-American men to ‘seize
control’ of their health,” Hammond suggested.
NEW! Scroll down to comment on this story.
Please click OK to confirm your comment and confirm you accept our posting rules. Note your message will be reviewed by our staff before going live.
Previous Comments:
Featured Video
The TS Interview: Dennis Aviles shares his experience with kidney health To learn more about kidney health, click here.
