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LINCOLN UNIVERSITY—Aqeel R. Dix, EdD, assistant professor of health science, this Friday will deliver a presentation on “Health & Healing: A Message for the African American Man” at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dix’ research focuses on why African American males shy away from accessing health care for both physical and mental health needs and how to help them overcome their reluctance to seek needed medical help. The result of this masculine pride mindset, he says, are health care disparities and greater incidences of some chronic diseases—such as heart disease, hypertension, diabetes. This mentality also results in mental and emotional health conditions, especially depression and anxiety, that are not addressed or treated.
“We have an epidemic of stigmatization that has led African American males to forego health care,” says Dix. “Some of the factors include mistrust, affordability questions and lack of connections with the health care system, in part because so few physicians and other health care practitioners look like them.
“It’s also a manhood macho thing that results from men of color from adolescents on up always being told to ‘Suck it up, don’t cry, don’t have emotions.’
Drs. Patricia A. Joseph, Aqeel Dix, and Yvonne R. Hilton | Staff photo/Terrance Young
“We have to start from birth to teach young Black males that it’s okay to say how you feel.”
Dix spoke on a similar theme last October at the 17th Annual International Males of Color Empowerment and Retention Education Conference at Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia. During that conference he was awarded the 2019 JV Educational Consulting Teaching Award for his tireless dedication to the health concerns of men of color.
To address these issues, since 2014 Dix has presented workshops for men of color at universities, churches, male organizations and community groups throughout the country. “We create a safe space where we have confidential, in-depth discussions that teach these men how to seek out medical help and how to talk about how they really feel with their spouses without feeling emasculated.
“After one workshop a young man emailed me to describe how he used all the tools and strategies I had discussed to explain to his wife how he was actually feeling,” says Dix. “He said that for the first time in many years of marriage he was able to tell his wife how he felt when he was overwhelmed or tired but felt that he couldn’t ask her for support and help.
“’My wife always knew how I felt but said that she wanted me to tell her,” the man reported. “Thank you for helping me break down that barrier between me and my wife and my children.”
“That,” says Dix, “makes me excited about the work that I do.”