GPRA supports launch of Movember’s Men in Mind for Primary Care

General Practice Registrars Australia (GPRA) has joined forces with Movember to promote a new course aimed at supporting General Practitioners and Rural Generalists to provide gender-responsive care to men. 

Men in Mind for Primary Care is a free, evidence-informed online CPD training program designed to help GPs and RGs strengthen everyday interactions with men and ultimately improve health outcomes.

More than 37,000 Australian men die prematurely each year, before the age of 75, many from preventable causes, while suicide remains the leading cause of death among Australian men aged 15 to 44.

Primary care has a critical role to play in prevention, early intervention and ongoing support. But getting men through the door is only the first step. 

Movember research shows that 67 per cent of Australian men have left, or wanted to leave, a healthcare practitioner because they didn’t feel a connection, making it clear that keeping men connected to care requires more than access alone. 

Men in Mind for Primary Care is designed to help close that gap by supporting GPs and RGs to better understand and respond to men’s health needs through a more gender-responsive lens. 

Social and cultural factors, often described as masculine norms, can shape how men experience symptoms, communicate concerns, seek help and stay engaged in care.

While many GPs and RGs already recognise these challenges in practice, they have not always had access to training that helps them identify and respond to the ways masculinity can show up in everyday care. 

The free eLearning course builds on practitioners’ existing skillsets with practical tools to recognise when men may be minimising symptoms, delaying disclosure or disengaging from follow-up, including when they may be experiencing mental health difficulties such as depression, anxiety or suicidality.

It helps practitioners explore concerns, strengthen trust and support men to stay connected to care.  

Developed by the world-leading Movember Institute, the course draws on the experience of a multidisciplinary consortium of men’s health researchers and practitioners, alongside men with lived experience.

It has also been designed and tested with practitioners to ensure it reflects the realities of everyday general practice, where appointments are short, presentations can be complex, and trust can shape whether a man comes back for care. 

The course has three connected modules: 

1. Reframing masculinity: explores how gender norms can shape men’s health behaviours, communication and help-seeking
2. Meeting men where they are: introduces strengths-based tools to build trust, improve engagement and support more effective conversations with men
3. Hiding in plain sight: helps practitioners recognise how anxiety, depression and suicide risk can present differently in men, and better spot when distress may be sitting beneath the surface

The course is free, self-paced and tailored to the needs of GPs and RGs. 

It provides practical tools to strengthen engagement with men, while also supporting practitioners’ ongoing professional development requirements. 

The course is accredited under the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners’ CPD program and by the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, accounting for 2.5 CPD hours: two hours of Educational Activities and half an hour of Reviewing Performance. 

The launch marks the next edition of Movember’s Men in Mind training platform, building on the success of its original course for mental health practitioners and taking practical, gender-responsive training into the general practice setting, where many men first show up for support. 

It launches as part of a broader Men in Mind for Primary Care suite, which also includes dedicated courses for pharmacists and primary care nurses.  

Ben Rogers, Global Director, Health Systems at Movember, said: “Movember has spent more than 20 years changing the conversation on men’s health. 

“In partnership with the Australian Government, Men in Mind for Primary Care will help bring practical, evidence-informed training into the primary care settings where many men first seek care. 

“Many men do make it into primary care, but too many are still dropping out before the system has a chance to properly support them. 

“It’s so important to understand the social and cultural factors that reinforce specific masculine norms, like stoicism, self-reliance and restrictive emotionality. 

“These norms shape what men disclose, what they keep to themselves, and whether they come back. 

“This eLearning course gives practitioners a practical framework to recognise the cues, open the conversation and support men to stay connected to care.”

Dr Chris Dickie, GPRA President, said: “GP and RG registrars are developing their consultation style while managing complex presentations in real time. 

“Building gender-responsive care into training from the start helps future GPs recognise how men may communicate, present and engage with healthcare. 

“Men in Mind for Primary Care gives registrars practical tools they can use early in their careers and carry into future practice, helping them ask better questions, develop long-lasting trust with men and support stronger engagement in care – with the potential to save lives.”

For more information about Men in Mind for Primary Care, and to enrol and access resources visit meninmind.movember.com/primarycare/cpd-gp.