Promoting Men's Health With the "Don't Change Much" e-Program.

Area of Science:

• Health Behavior Change
• Digital Health Interventions
• Men's Health

Background:

• E-health promotion programs offer anonymity and autonomy, supporting men's health behavior change.
• The Don't Change Much (DCM) program is an e-health tool designed for men's health promotion.
• Understanding usage levels and demographic moderators is crucial for optimizing e-health interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the association between men's usage levels of the DCM e-health program and their recent/intended health behavior changes.
• To explore how demographic variables moderate the relationship between DCM usage and health behavior changes.

Main Methods:

• Classified DCM users into limited, low, and high exposure groups based on self-reported usage.
• Compared health behavior changes (recent and intended) of DCM users against a benchmark cohort.
• Conducted exploratory analysis on the moderating effects of demographic variables.

Main Results:

• High-exposure DCM users showed significantly increased odds for 8/9 recent behavior changes (e.g., increased physical activity) and 8/9 intended behavior changes (e.g., stress reduction) compared to the benchmark cohort.
• High-exposure users reported significantly greater total numbers of recent and intended behavior changes, even after adjusting for demographics.
• Younger age, employment, and lower household income (<$120,000) positively moderated the number of intended behavior changes among DCM users.

Conclusions:

• The DCM e-health program is associated with positive health behavior changes in men, particularly at higher usage levels.
• Demographic factors like age, employment, and income can influence the effectiveness of e-health interventions for behavior change.
• Findings support the utility of e-health programs in promoting men's health and highlight the need for personalized approaches.