A narrative review of Men’s Sheds literature: reducing social isolation and promoting men’s health and well-being

Abstract

Men’s Sheds are community‐based organisations that typically provide a space for older men to participate in meaningful occupation such as woodwork. Men’s Sheds are considered an exemplar for the promotion of men’s health and well‐being by health and social policy‐makers. The objective of this literature review was to determine the state of the science about the potential for Men’s Sheds to promote male health and well‐being. Between October 2011 and February 2012, we conducted searches of databases, the grey literature and manual searches of websites and reference lists. In total, we found 5 reports and 19 articles about Men’s Sheds. The majority of the literature has emanated from Australian academics and is about older men’s learning in community contexts. There is a limited body of research literature about Men’s Sheds; the literature consists of either descriptive surveys or small qualitative studies. The range of variables that might contribute towards best practice in Men’s Sheds has not yet been adequately conceptualised, measured, tested or understood. Future research should be focussed on the health and well‐being benefits of Men’s Sheds; it needs to incorporate social determinants of health and well‐being within the study designs to enable comparison against other health promotion research. Without this research focus, there is a danger that the potential health and well‐being benefits of Men’s Sheds as supportive and socially inclusive environments for health will not be incorporated into future male health policy and practice.

Un Men’s Shed como comunidad favorecedora del bienestar en adultos mayores

“…Sus hallazgos sugirieron que los Men's Shed son un lugar significativo para congregarse, que sirven para mejorar el bienestar de los hombres, en general, y el de los que tienen algún problema de salud mental o son adictos a sustancias, en particular. Por ello, los Men's Shed han de ser para los responsables políticos una parte importante de la amplia gama de respuestas que tiene la política para mejorar la salud y el bienestar de los hombres (Wilson y Cordier, 2013), ya que, alivian el aislamiento social y mejoran el bienestar de los mayores. Ejemplos de políticas en este sentido se dan en Australia e Irlanda (Robertson, Galdas, McCreary, Oliffe y Tremblay, 2009;Smith, White, Richardson, Robertson y Ward, 2009).…”

“…En estos estudios se afirmaba que los Men's Shed ofrecen un contexto de aprendizaje informal que se adapta mejor a los hombres que los tradicionales centros de aprendizaje. Esto significa que los mayores no están interesados en contextos de aprendizaje formal, ya que su deseo es desarrollar nuevas habilidades y estos contextos informales facilitan ese tipo de aprendizajes (Wilson y Cordier, 2013). Por tanto, son lugares idóneos para conectar con otros miembros, para aprender habilidades prácticas y desarrollar nuevos intereses.…”

“…Debido a que cada vez la esperanza de vida es mayor, las comunidades basadas en programas de Men's Shed se han convertido en iniciativas útiles para promover y mejorar la salud psicosocial (Labonte,1997;Ballinger et al 2009;Wilson y Cordier, 2013) y el bienestar en personas mayores a través de asociaciones comunitarias, en paises como Australia, Portugal e Irlanda.…”

“…Es por ello que en los últimos años ha crecido el movimiento Men's Shed, especialmente en Australia (Golding et al, 2008;Ballinguer et al, 2009). En la revisión sobre la literatura acerca de los Men's Shed, Wilson y Cordier (2013) concluyen que la mayoría de los estudios provienen de Australia y se centran en el aprendizaje de hombres en edad avanzada en contextos comunitarios.…”

An examination of health promotion and social inclusion activities: A cross‐sectional survey of Australian community Men's Sheds

“…Australian Men's Sheds are community‐based male‐friendly spaces where older men gather to work on individual, shared or community projects, and also to derive personal benefits from the social and activity‐based milieu of the shed . The potential for Men's Sheds to be exemplars for male health promotion and social inclusion has been noted at both a policy level and in recent Australian and international research about Men's Sheds .…”