Original post by ryan.edtech on September 12, 2019
I’ve been working at a community level with other men for nearly 10 years to try to understand and improve some of the negative personal health and social outcomes that many men struggle with. I believe that technology, particularly mobile technology, can help to bridge some of the gaps in reaching and educating male populations with important public health information and I found this web-app to be a step in the right direction.
The app is simple and straightforward, using appealing colors and imagery with plain, concise language to inform users about their health and specifically targeting issues common to men. While it could go further and uses some familiar tropes such as the superhero, I believe it is a model that could be emulated and built upon and it is encouraging to see efforts to leverage technology to meet the public where they are at.
ScreenMen:
http://screenmen.org/index.php#firstPage
Read more:
https://mhealth.jmir.org/2019/4/e10216/
I agree with Ryan’s review of this app. It is very easy to use, visually appealing and provides helpful information. The questions in the survey are similar to public health examination questions provided through employers and community centres. The developers of the app conducted a needs assessment (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5217942/) and provided users focus groups after the app was launched. I also think this could be a useful model for health screening and public health research. I feel the app should do more to filter by age, ethnicity and career. Different versions for older men and younger men might be more appealing to the different demographics. Also data and statistics relevant to any medical conditions present might attract more users. I was unable to see but i hope the data is being collected for national health research.