MSPS Colloquium - Dr Kylie King

Man Up: an innovative media intervention focussed on masculinity and suicide

A three-part documentary called Man Up was developed with funding from the Movember Foundation via collaboration between university academics and independent film-makers. Man Up is a presenter led journey that explores the interplay between masculinity and mental health in Australia, with a particular focus on the high suicide rates among men. It was designed as a population level intervention that aimed to have a positive impact on men’s wellbeing. The documentary was shown on the ABC in prime time in October 2016. The documentary was accompanied by a multi-pronged campaign across social media, print media, and radio. The Centre for Mental Health in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health collaborated in the development of the project and conducted an evaluation of Man Up through a series of studies, including a randomised controlled trial and a social media evaluation.

Dr Kylie King is a research fellow in the Centre for Mental health at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. Kylie started her working life as a psychologist and became interested in the social determinants of health and the potential for population wide interventions to make a positive difference to people's mental health. She has expertise in mental health and suicide prevention research and in program evaluation. In recent years her work has focussed on men's mental health.