Evaluating the effectiveness of a website about masculinity and suicide to prompt help-seeking

Issue addressed
A website was designed to form the core of a multimedia strategy surrounding the Man Up documentary – a three‐part documentary that aimed to address the problem of male suicide in Australia. Together these formed a media‐based, public health intervention that explored the link between masculinity and suicide and promoted help‐seeking. This is of great importance given the demonstrated link between masculine norms, men’s reduced help‐seeking and suicidal thinking. This study assesses the website’s effectiveness in facilitating help‐seeking and fostering conversations about suicide, mental health and help‐seeking. Help‐seeking indicators included website clicks to helping organisations, downloads of health information from the website and request for help received via emails.
Methods
Google Analytics data, emails to the Man Up team received through the website and open‐ended responses to an online survey were analysed.
Results
The website reached 43 140 users. Indictors of help‐seeking activity on the website included 307 outbound clicks to helping organisations and 802 downloads of health information. Qualitative analysis of emails received and responses to the survey demonstrated that Man Up’s messages resonated with viewers and provided further evidence of help‐seeking.
Conclusion
The findings demonstrate that the website provided an important opportunity for people to engage with Man Up and seek help.
So what?
Media‐based public health interventions offer enormous potential to provide suicide prevention interventions and promote help‐seeking. The website evaluation findings provide insight into the ways in which websites can be used as part of a multimedia strategy to address the problem of male suicide.