{jcomments off}To mark Men’s Health Week 2014, ARK (within Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Ulster) published a new factsheet which looks at the health and wellbeing of older men in Northern Ireland.  Using statistics from the Health Survey Northern Ireland, as well as the Census of Population, this report looks at a range of topics including general health, age-related diseases, lifestyle, and mental health.  This is the tenth report in the Men in Northern Ireland (MiNI) series.  All of these reports are available for free online downloading at: www.ark.ac.uk/publications/factsheets/#mini

{jcomments off}Did you know that you can access Testicular and Prostate Cancer Guides for Men (and information on other cancers) on the Health Service Executive website at: www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/5/nccp/patient/leaflets/patinfo.html ?

{jcomments off}To coincide with World Mental Health Day (10th October 2014), the 4th National Research Conference on Youth Mental Health will take place in Cork.  This dynamic and multi-disciplinary one day event (co-hosted by the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Special Interest Group in Youth Mental Health, the Inspire Ireland Foundation, and the National Suicide Research Foundation) will: bring together researchers, clinicians, policy-makers and others who care for and work with adolescents and young adults; showcase the latest research and innovation in the area of youth mental health; address the multiple transitions (mental health, developmental, social, psychological and service transitions) faced by young people; draw together a multi-disciplinary audience across specialties and services; highlight the role young people can and do play in promoting good policy and practice in mental health.  Participation from students, clinicians, community organisations and researchers is greatly encouraged, and the organisers are seeking submissions for oral and poster presentations in the area of youth mental health.  Further details are available from Fenella Murphy, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

{jcomments off}Parenting NI is, once again, running a Summer programme for practitioners.  This will include workshops on Engaging Dads (10th July in Derry / Londonderry and 7th August in Belfast) and Supporting Separated Fathers (29th July in Belfast and 12th August in Derry / Londonderry).  For further information, contact Louise on Tel: 02890 310891 or Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

{jcomments off}In Ireland, the burden of alcohol related harm is often experienced by those around the drinker - be they family member, friend, co-worker or innocent ‘bystander’.  Alcohol’s harm to others (AH2O) undermines public safety, and is experienced in every community.  The negative effects from other people’s drinking are visible in the public domain, and can range from the nuisance factor, feeling unsafe in public places, to violent attack by an intoxicated drinker.  Physical assaults and driving a car while under the influence of alcohol can contribute to injuries, accidents, disabilities and the death of innocent people.  Although not often publicly visible, alcohol’s harm to others within the family can have very serious consequences for the safety and well-being of family members - with children being the most vulnerable.  This report from the Health Service Executive (HSE) examines alcohol’s harm to others in three Irish settings - the general population, the workplace and children in families.  The information is based on self-reported responses in the national drinking surveys of 2006 and 2010, and you can download the report as a PDF file at: www.hse.ie/eng/services/Publications/topics/alcohol/ah2oreport.pdf

{jcomments off}Research funded by the Centre for Ageing Research and Development in Ireland (CARDI) has found that regular exercise reduces depression in older people - whether patients report pain or not.  The all-Ireland study led by Dr Frank Doyle, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, examined the links between physical activity, pain, and depressive symptoms across three datasets.  The study found that pain is associated with increased depression and physical activity is associated with lower depression levels.  It also found that having pain does not stop people benefitting from physical activity.  Overall, the findings suggest that health professionals can consider and promote physical activity for the treatment of depressive symptoms and mental well-being, irrespective of pain levels.  For a copy of the full report, see: www.cardi.ie/news/exercisereducesdepressioninolderpeople

{jcomments off}The Central Statistics Office (CSO) in the Republic of Ireland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) have just released a new publication which presents, for the first time, results from both censuses.  This explores the similarities and differences in the two populations, as well as looking at how these populations have changed over time.  This large document (which is 5.5MB in size) is available online for free downloading at: www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/releasespublications/documents/population/2011/Cen2011IrelandNorthernIreland.pdf

{jcomments off}Fewer men join weight loss programmes, but they are more likely than women to stick with them, according to analysis of international obesity studies.  Men also prefer the use of simple ‘business-like’ language, welcome humour used sensitively, and benefit from the moral support of other men in strategies to tackle obesity.  These are some of the findings in a new report which suggests that, if weight loss programmes were specifically designed for men, these might be more effective at helping them to lose weight.  Researchers from the Universities of Aberdeen, Bournemouth and Stirling analysed evidence from around the world - gathered from weight loss trials and studies that have also taken on-board men’s views. The team particularly investigated what would make services more appealing to men.  View the launch press release at: www.mhfi.org/obesitystudy.pdf and the full report on the study at: www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/hta/volume-18/issue-35  The Men's Health Forum in Ireland was delighted to play a supporting role in this research.