Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39806300›Full record

Trial reportBMC public health2025

Boys Do Cry: a randomised controlled trial testing the effects of a music video promoting help-seeking for mental health difficulties in Australian men.

Angela Nicholas, Simone Scotti Requena, Simon Rice, Matthew J Spittal, Andrew MacKinnon, Zac Seidler, Maria Ftanou, Justine Fletcher, Long Le, Cathy Mihalopoulos and 1 more

Erratum issuedAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in BMC public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Angela NicholasCentre for Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. angela.nicholas@unimelb.edu.au.
Simone Scotti RequenaCentre for Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Simon RiceCentre for Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Matthew J SpittalCentre for Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Andrew MacKinnonCentre for Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Zac SeidlerOrygen, Parkville, Melbourne, Australia.
Maria FtanouCentre for Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Justine FletcherCentre for Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Long LeSchool of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University Health Economics Group, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
Cathy MihalopoulosSchool of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University Health Economics Group, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
Jane PirkisCentre for Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.

Funding

Medical Research Future Fund grant MRFF1199972
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundIn Australia and internationally, it is men who predominately die by suicide. Men are less likely than women to seek help for their mental health difficulties and this may contribute to their higher suicide rates. We created a 4-minute music video encouraging Australian men to seek help for mental health difficulties (Boys Do Cry). We aimed to assess in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) whether the Boys Do Cry video increased men's intentions to seek help for mental health difficulties from baseline (T1) to post-intervention (1 week = T2).

methodsWe conducted an online single-blind, two-arm RCT comparing the effects of Boys Do Cry against a control video. Analyses were undertaken on an intent-to-treat basis using linear mixed effects models with variables for trial arm, occasion of measurement and their interaction. Intervention effectiveness was assessed by comparing the mean difference between arms in change of the total score on the General Help-Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ) from T1 to T2.

results476 participants were randomised (intervention = 243; control = 233). At T1, GHSQ means were similar (intervention = 45.28; control = 45.70). After viewing the videos, GHSQ means increased in both arms (intervention = 47.33; control = 46.59), with no evidence of a difference in scores at T2 (modelled mean difference = 0.62, 95% CI -1.11 to 2.35, p = 0.485). Similar results were observed for all secondary outcomes. No adverse events were observed.

conclusionsBoys Do Cry demonstrated some evidence of a positive effect on help-seeking intentions among Australian men; however, so too did the control video, and no significant difference was observed.

trial registrationANZCTR No. 2,621,001,008,819. Registered 30 July 2021.

Indexed as

Health PromotionHelp-Seeking BehaviorMental DisordersMusicPatient Acceptance of Health CareVideo RecordingAdolescentAdultAustraliaHumansMaleMiddle AgedSingle-Blind MethodSurveys and QuestionnairesYoung AdultHelp-seekingMaleMediaRandomised controlled trialSuicide preventionVideo.

Identifiers

PMID39806300
PMCPMC11731169

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.