The Movie Event on Men's Health Ageing Well for New Zealand Men, was successfully held on 4 August 2019 in the Otago Museum, with generous support from the Centre for Men's Health, the CARE, and the School of Physiotherapy.
Around 20 people attended in this event, comprising of a mix of researchers, delegates from Men's Sheds, and individuals who are interested in men's health.
The event started at 1:30pm with the famous American film The Bucket List played in the Barclay Theatre. Following the film, three renowned researchers from the University of Otago shared their recent research on ageing men in New Zealand.
Professor David Baxter (Director, Centre for Men's Health) presented on the current issues of men's health in New Zealand. He discussed about seven things people need to know about men's health in general that include the leading causes of death for New Zealand men, men's health in Maori and Pacific peoples, and research activity in men's health. He also introduced the work that has been done in the Centre for Men's Health, and highlighted the need for community involvement for improving men's health in New Zealand.
Associate Professor Yoram Barak (Consultant Psychogeriatrician, Department of Psychological Medicine (Dunedin)) presented on the centenarian research. He provided an overview of the existing research on centenarian in the literature, and indicated that there is a lack of clinical research on this population. Associate Professor Barak also discussed the psychosocial variables associated with loneliness in Centenarian in New Zealand, and compared these variables with other elderly populations. He discussed the potential indicators of the old age structure in Australia and New Zealand, and the implications for improving these indicators for a better ageing process.
Dr John Shaver (Senior Lecturer in Religion, Head of Religion Programme) discussed findings from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study, a longitudinal study that follows over 40,000 New Zealanders. He discussed lifespan changes in religion affiliation and religious identification. Findings revealed that religious identification dips for people during mid-life. Dr Shaver also described how the probability of leaving religion decreases across the lifespan, while the probability of conversion to religion steadily increases across the lifespan. He discussed how older individuals are more likely to become religious than to leave religion, and the implications of these lifespan shifts for social support and health outcomes.
A short discussion between the attendees and the researchers were held before the end of the event. The Movie Event has received high praise from attendees, and several attendees expressed their interests in involving in future community events and research activities at the Centre for Men's Health. The Director of the Centre of Men's Health, Professor David Baxter says, 'This movie event is just a great start. The Centre for Men's Health will host more similar events in New Zealand communities, which aims to raise increasing public and community awareness of the key issues surrounding men's health and promote New Zealand men's health into an advanced level.'
Program slides:
Professor David Baxter Men's health: What you need to know (1798KB)
Associate Professor Yoram Barak Centenarians (1340KB)