Opportunity for blokes to get healthy with Sydney Hat Trick program
Are you male, aged between 28-64, living in Sydney, overweight, physically inactive but with a desire to make some healthy changes?
Researchers at the University of Technology are keen to hear from blokes who fit this profile to take part in a free 12-week program starting in mid-March, which will help them make healthy changes towards being active, eating healthy and improving their mental fitness.
Given that men living in Australia die on average six years younger than women, Associate Professor Cristina Caperchione and her research team have been conducting research to understand what men want when it comes to supporting their health.
Most importantly, what are the specific elements that garner men’s health-promoting behaviours while ensuring that their masculine identities and values are not compromised?
This program of research has led to the design and development of the international award winning HAT TRICK program, a gender-sensitised health promotion program aimed at improving physical activity, healthy eating, and mental fitness.
The Hat Trick program follows the same logic as achieving a hat trick in sport, i.e., three goals in one game. These three goals are physical activity, healthy eating and social connectedness.
“Many health promotion programs hold little appeal to men and consequently fail to influence men’s health practices,” Professor Caperchione and her colleagues wrote in a study on the Hat Trick program conducted in British Colombia from August 2016 to May 2018.
Focusing on small manageable changes, sessions are delivered in a fun and interactive way, including guest presentations from some of the UTS partners in elite sport.
Professor Caperchione and her team have been refining the program to ensure that it suits diverse sub-groups of men such as those living with chronic disease like prostate cancer, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men, and older aged men.
The Hat Trick program will take place at the UTS Moore Park Precinct, where participants will learn tools and tactics to lose weight, get stronger and feel better. Group training and education will be led by exercise specialists.
As this is a research study, all participants will be asked to complete some measurements before and after the program. These include a brief questionnaire, body composition (including a DEXA scan to measure bone density) and fitness testing.
For more information or to sign up today call Elizabeth Marin, 02 9514 5210 or email, [email protected].