Promoting Men’s Health at the Pit Stop

Pit Stop was developed in the Gascoyne in 1999 in response to poor men’s health.  Men had higher death rates, were over weight, smoking regularly and drinking too much.   Pit Stop was a one-stop shop for men.  It went to where men were and in a humorous way got them to think about their health.

Since 1999 Pit Stop has been used in dozens of settings around Australia.  But it had never been evaluated.  In 2005 CUCRH awarded Debra Chambers a Primary Health Care mini-research fellowship to interview participants and organisers, and review of documentation from the Pit Stop Men’s Health program in three rural regions of WA to find out:

If Pit Stop could be implemented in different places in with different styles and still see similar changes in Men’s health behaviour between the sites?

If Pit Stopengaged men, did the men act on the advice they received to improve their health?

WE FOUND THAT:
Pit Stop was successful in reaching men with significant health risks. Only 40 - 50% of men met the standards for normal health. 

Pit Stop changed men’s behaviour - Between 70 - 90% of men interviewed who had participated in Pit Stop remembered what they were told 1 – 2 years later.  Almost half (43%) of the men had changed their health behaviour and/or contacted a health professional.

Pit Stop needs updating to improve its delivery, documentation and accuracy.

If you would like to read more, go to: http://www.cucrh.uwa.edu.au/fellowship/Debra_Chambers.html

WHERE DOES Pit Stop GO NOW?
The Health Department is reviewing and upgrading Pit Stop.
The Combined Universities Centre for Rural Health can to add value to the Pit Stop package for your company and organization through one or more of these services:  

• Delivering Pit Stop for your organization
• Developing more modules for Pit Stop that reflect the particular needs of your men
• Providing innovative health promotion packages that respond to the health needs of your men identified through running Pit Stop
• Collecting and storing your Pit Stop data with full confidentiality for your organization

• Provide statistical analysis and trend information from the Pit Stop data collected from your organization

For more information about Pit Stop contact