“I wanna live in a world where change is possible”: co-designing guidance for inclusive eating, exercise, and body image psychopathology outreach resources for men

Background: Men are underserved in research on eating, exercise and body image psychopathology (EEBIP), and remain underrepresented within healthcare settings despite growing clinical need. One barrier to men's help-seeking for EEBIP-related concerns is that public-facing healthcare information/resources often appear unwelcoming to them, suggesting the need for more inclusive, gender-sensitive resources that engage men and address their specific needs. This study aimed to explore men’s perspectives on the design of inclusive EEBIP resources, to inform the iterative co-design of guidance for future resource development
Methods: This study employed a lived experience-led approach, integrating a modified nominal group technique with participatory research methods, as part of an iterative co-design of a guidance document. Six men with lived experience of EEBIP ranked their preferred features of male-inclusive resources from a broader list of content and format ideas generated through a survey of 42 men. Interview and focus group discussions followed, exploring the underlying reasons why the men with EEBIP experience believed these content and format ideas would support men’s help-seeking for EEBIP. Finally, a draft guidance document, underpinned by the results of the discussions, was designed and iteratively edited, following feedback from healthcare organisation representatives, academics, and men with lived experience.
Results: Thematic analysis of the discussions identified five themes to inform the development of future resources. The five themes are titled: 1) Designing accessible resources that navigate men’s readiness; 2) Authentic voices: inclusive, conversation-led outreach; 3) Self-realisation: refraining from labelling men as ‘unhealthy’ or ‘disordered’; 4) Purpose and progress driven resources; 5) Images: the line between helpful and harmful isn’t always clear. These themes are discussed alongside EEBIP and men’s mental health help-seeking literature.
Conclusions: This is the first study to centre men’s experiential knowledge to explore how healthcare organisations can facilitate men’s help-seeking for EEBIP-related concerns via public-facing resources. The themes generated in this study reflect findings of studies exploring the facilitation of men’s general mental health help-seeking, whilst contributing novel EEBIP-specific findings. The results of this study can support EEBIP healthcare organisations to develop public-facing resources that are more inclusive of men.