Developing young men’s wellbeing through community and school-based programs: A systematic review

Abstract

Boys and young men have unique health-related needs that may be poorly met by existing programs and initiatives. The mismatch between the needs of boys and young men and current service offerings–driven largely by social determinants of health such as masculinity–may stymie health status. This is evidenced through high rates of self-stigma, accidental death or suicide, and low rates of help seeking and health literacy among populations of boys and young men. With growing interest in improving wellbeing and educational outcomes for all young people (including boys and young men), this systematic review aimed to evaluate community and school-based programs with specific focus on program features and outcomes directly relevant to young males aged 12–25 years. Five data-bases were searched; Medline, EMBASE, PsycInfo, ERIC, and ERAD. Articles were included if they evaluated an intervention or program with a general or at-risk sample of young men, and measured a psychological, psychosocial, masculinity, or educational outcome. The majority of the 40 included studies had high quality reporting (62.5%). Synthesised data included theoretical frameworks, intervention characteristics, outcomes, and key results. Of the included studies, 14 were male-focussed programs, with masculinity approaches directed towards program aims and content information. The emergent trend indicated that male-targeted interventions may be more beneficial for young men than gender-neutral programs, however, none of these studies incorporated masculine-specific theory as an overarching framework. Furthermore, only three studies measured masculine-specific variables. Studies were limited by a lack of replication and program refinement approaches. It is concluded that there is significant scope for further development of community and school-based health promotion programs that target young men through incorporation of frameworks that consider the impact of gendered social and environmental determinants of health. Evaluation of these programs will provide researchers and practitioners with the capacity for translating beneficial outcomes into best-practice policy.

Clueless: An ethnographic study of young men who participate in the seduction community with a focus on their psychosocial well-being and mental health

“…As well as imparting skills and catalyzing personal development, such groups could also discuss and address other issues raised in the present study including social isolation, lack of acculturation and wider gender issues-with an emphasis on positive pro-social solutions. Such interventions would be consistent with the conclusion of a recent systematic review of young men's well-being programs, which stated that 'male targeted interventions may be more beneficial for young men than gender neutral programs' [41].…”

“…These factors have been identified as social determinants of young men's mental health and psychosocial well-being, and may contribute towards high rates of suicide, substance misuse and other mental health issues in men [37,38]. Worryingly, evidence suggests that young men under-utilize formal mental health services [39,40], and a recent review indicates that there are few effective or validated programs to improve the mental health and psychosocial well-being of young men [41]. The gravity of this situation has been recognized by many esteemed bodies, including the British Parliament, which launched an official inquiry into the mental health of men and boys in 2019 [42].…”

“…As previously stated, men tend to under-utilize formal mental health and well-being services, sometimes perceiving such services as overly 'feminized' [39,67,68]. Of note, a recent review found a dearth of evidence-based programs to improve young men's psychosocial wellbeing [41]. All this implies the need for tailored mental-health and well-being services for young men.…”

Masculinities and health scoping review: a report prepared for VicHealth

“…One way to address this is to avoid focusing on the short-term goal of changing attitudes and behaviours, and instead design interventions that aim to transform the culturally idealised form of masculinity (Jewkes et al, 2015b, p.117). This requires more than a focus on particular men, is likely to be very slow and incremental, and as such should involve interventions that are "delivered over a much longer time frame than is currently common practice" (Jewkes et al, 2015b, p.119; see also Gwyther et al, 2019). To this end, Burrell's (2018, p.459) expert-informants emphasised "the need for preventative interventions to be coordinated both vertically and horizontally throughout an organisation or institution, in order to address the patriarchal inequalities embedded within it".…”

“…At present, evaluations of programs relating to healthy masculinities tend to be conducted close to the completion of the program itself and are rarely longitudinal in nature (O'Neil, Challenger, Renzulli, Crapser & Webster, 2013; see alsoGwyther et al, 2019). This limits the ability to draw conclusions regarding program effectiveness over the longer term and risks making judgements on what could primarily be program satisfaction data.…”