Men's health: don't blame the victims

Abstract

posts that address problems of inner cities-for example, homelessness and drug misuse. We have been able to extend training based in general practice within the three year scheme when necessary.' Research by the South London Organisation of Vocational Training Schemes has shown that many registrars do not feel ready to enter general practice after vocational training (C Vaughan, personal communication). We provide a fourth year of training in the form of a vocational training associate scheme, which addresses registrars' further learning needs while giving them time to gain experience and confidence in practice. This initiative, in its second year, has also been able to support 34 local practices under stress.These changes have allowed us to recruit a full complement of high quality registrars to our schemes and increase the number of locally trained doctors becoming principals in south London. The training issues have become too complex to be solved by appending general practice training to hospital training. We look forward to the results of the evaluation of our innovations. These results will inform the debate about developing excellent training for general practice that will supply highly trained general practitioners for inner cities into the next century.

The Success of Men’s Health Nights and Health Sessions

“…1,10 The explanations range from the expression of the 'it will never happen to me' and the 'women and children first' syndromes, to the postulate of invulnerability and the notion that, in essence, men are dispensable. 1,10 The explanations range from the expression of the 'it will never happen to me' and the 'women and children first' syndromes, to the postulate of invulnerability and the notion that, in essence, men are dispensable.…”

“…There has been much speculation about men's apparent lack of concern about their health. 1,10 The explanations range from the expression of the 'it will never happen to me' and the 'women and children first' syndromes, to the postulate of invulnerability and the notion that, in essence, men are dispensable. The notion of dispensability, or relative worthlessness, ties in with Wilkinson's notion of relative deprivation: that life is unhealthier at the bottom of the heap.…”

Men’s Mental Health: Beyond Victim-Blaming

“…23,25,26 This narrow focus often singularly attributes the cause of a health problem to the attitudes and behaviours of men, rather than acknowledging a highly complex web of causation. 27,28 This discourse often centres on the concept of 'masculinity'.…”

“…The subtext of such campaigns is an implicit criticism of the illnessbearer's attitudes, behaviour, or lifestyles; sometimes laying the blame squarely at the feet of the afflicted men themselves. 26,27 Instead of continuing this narrow focus, the 2 papers in this special issue adopt a public health approach, devoting much discussion to the social determinants of men's mental health. This includes discussion of the relationship between social exposures (including unemployment and divorce) and mental health outcomes.…”

“…The sub-text of such campaigns is an implicit criticism of the illness-bearer’s attitudes, behaviour, or lifestyles; sometimes laying the blame squarely at the feet of the afflicted men themselves. 26,27…”