Gender, the complex of social relations and practices attached to biological sex, is one of the most important socio-cultural factors influencing health and health-related behavior. Although a large body of health research suggests that men with similar social disadvantages as women experience poorer health outcomes in relation to disability, chronic illness, injury rates and mortality, men's health is rarely deconstructed through the lens of gender. The purpose of this article is to increase understanding of the
Depression is an illness increasingly constructed as a gendered mood disorder and consequently diagnosed in women more than men. The diagnostic criteria used for its assessment often perpetrate and reproduce gender stereotypes. The stigma associated with mental illness and the gendered elements of depression suggest there are likely numerous discourses that position, explain, and justify helpseeking practices. This qualitative study explored men's discourses of seeking help for depression. The methodological approach was informed by a social constructionist perspective of language, discourse and gender that drew on methods from discourse analysis. We conducted individual in-depth, semistructured interviews with 38 men with depression, either formally diagnosed or self reported. The analysis revealed five discursive frames that influenced the men's talk about help-seeking and depression: manly self-reliance; treatmentseeking as responsible independent action; guarded vulnerability; desperation; and genuine connection. The findings are discussed within a broader context of social discourses of gender, the limitations of current help-seeking literature and the evidence for how men seek help in ways that extend traditional notions of medical treatment.
Photo elicitation studies have attracted modest attention in qualitative health research. However, few researchers have focused exclusively on men's health and/or illness experiences. In this article, the authors discuss the benefits of using photo elicitation among a sub-cohort of 19 prostate cancer survivors from a larger ethnographic study. Specifically, participants were asked to imagine that they were being paid to mount a photographic exhibition entitled Living With My Prostate Cancer, an exhibition that would show prostate cancer from their unique perspective. The authors subsequently discussed the photographs with the participants during individual interviews using photo elicitation techniques. The methods provided some unique and unanticipated benefits, the details of which the authors share to guide researchers considering similar approaches. In addition, the authors make specific recommendations for future photo elicitation applications to men's health research.
This paper describes the findings from an ethnographic study of 16 Anglo-Australian men treated with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for advanced prostate cancer. Utilising a social constructionist gendered analysis, participants' experiences, particularly in relation to embodied masculinity, are described in the context of reduced testosterone that accompany ADT. The findings indicated that participants reformulated many ideals of hegemonic masculinity in response to functional body changes. However, hegemonic masculinity strongly influenced participants' philosophical resolve to 'fight' prostate cancer. The findings are considered in broader ongoing debates about essentialist sex and the social construction of gender.
Asymptomatic men with low-risk, early-stage prostate cancer are eligible for active surveillance (AS), which offers a means to monitor the cancer while delaying treatment. However, AS operates within a unique set of circumstances that advocate monitoring, rather than immediate treatment, and men's health practices are central to coping with the inherent uncertainty of living with an untreated cancer. A qualitative study was completed to describe the range of men's self-management strategies used to overcome AS-related uncertainty. The study findings reveal two strategies. First, positioning prostate cancer as benign through stoicism and solitary discourses were common to men intent on "living a normal life." Second, men committed to "doing something extra" complemented AS protocols, and often collaborated with their wives to focus on diet as an adjunct therapy. Although most participants exhibited typical men's health practices, it is clear that tailored AS psychosocial interventions will benefit men and their families.
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