HAT TRICK: An Innovative Health Promotion Program for Men

Despite the benefits associated with lifestyle changes, men are less likely than women to engage in healthy lifestyle behaviours. Many men are reluctant and/or 'hard-to-reach', making it difficult to implement chronic illness prevention initiatives. Traditionally, a central challenge associated with engaging men in their health were perceptions that attention to one's health ran counter to masculine ideals of strength, self-reliance and independence. Thus, many men refrain from engaging in health promotion behaviors, such as PA and healthy eating. Research has highlighted the potential for professional sports teams/clubs to attract and engage men in healthy lifestyle behaviours. Such a strategy has been recognised as very powerful due to the traditional male environment within these clubs and the social-cultural connections the men often make with particular teams in terms of loyalty, identity and belonging. Thus, the purpose of this research is to develop and evaluate the feasibility of the HAT-TRICK Program, a gender-sensitive intervention program targeting PA, healthy eating and connectedness in men living in Kelowna, BC. This program will be delivered as a collaborative effort between the research team and the Kelowna Rockets, a major junior ice hockey team in Kelowna, BC. The Kelowna Rockets play in a centre with a capacity of over 6,000 and have one of the most loyal season ticket holders base in the Western Hockey League, with 4,500; the majority being men and between the ages of 40-70 years old. With assistance from the Rockets, participants (N=30) will be recruited via season ticket holders, at hockey games, though the Rockets webpage and local print and electronic media. Participants meeting all eligibility criteria will be invited to participate in the 12 week HAT-TRICK Program which will consist of a once a week, 90 minute combined physical activity (e.g., resistance training, "boot-camp" training, floor hockey, stair climbing) and health education session (e.g., goal setting, self-monitoring, barriers and benefits to PA, dealing with set-backs, healthy eating, alcohol consumption, etc.) to be held at the Kelowna Rockets game and training facility. Kelowna Rockets personnel (e.g., athletic therapist, nutritionist) and community experts (e.g., chef, fitness trainer) will be invited to lead some of the PA and nutrition sessions. Kelowna Rockets players will also visit the group during selected sessions to engage in the PA training with the men, further encouraging social support, connectedness and camaraderie. Primary (feasibility and acceptability) and secondary (PA, nutrition, quality of life, connectedness, anthropometrics) outcome measures will be evaluated using a mix-methods approach including; focus groups, self-reported questionnaires and objective physical activity and anthropometric methods. All measures will be collected at baseline, post-intervention (12 weeks) and at 9-month follow-up. Findings from the primary and secondary outcome measures will be used to refine the HAT-TRICK program in preparation for a full-scale evaluation (RCT). Innovative prevention and health promoting approaches are needed to better serve this 'hard to reach' population. This innovative program utilizes a gender sensitive approach to attract and engage men, providing them with a program that recognises their masculine values and interests. Furthermore, the collaborative (i.e., Kelowna Rockets) nature of this program is poised to reach a large proportion of men in the Okanagan by capitalizing on the social-cultural connections men often make with sports teams and using this as the lynchpin to engaging men in health behaviours.