Mary Anne Nurmi, Corey S Mackenzie, Kerstin Roger, Kristin Reynolds, James Urquhart
{"title":"Older men's perceptions of the need for and access to male-focused community programmes such as Men's Sheds.","authors":"Mary Anne Nurmi, Corey S Mackenzie, Kerstin Roger, Kristin Reynolds, James Urquhart","doi":"10.1017/S0144686X16001331","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Although participating in community social programming is associated with positive physical and mental health outcomes for older adults, older men participate less often than women. Men's Sheds is a community programme used primarily by older men that originated in Australia and is well established there. The goal of the current study was to explore men's perceptions of the need for Men's Sheds and issues concerning access to them in Canada, a country with a small but growing Men's Sheds movement. We conducted focus groups with 64 men aged 55 years and older, including Men's Sheds members and men from the community who were unfamiliar with this programme, and analysed the data using the framework analytic approach. The data revealed two primary themes concerning: (a) the need for male-focused community programmes, including the sub-themes reducing isolation, forming friendships and engaging in continued learning; and (b) access to programmes, including the sub-themes points of contact, sustaining attendance and barriers. Findings suggest that in order to reduce the likelihood of isolation and increase opportunities for social engagement, exposure to the concept of male-focused programming should begin before retirement age. In addition, such programmes should be mindful of how they are branded and marketed in order to create spaces that are welcoming to new and diverse members.</p>","PeriodicalId":51364,"journal":{"name":"Ageing & Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2018-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1017/S0144686X16001331","citationCount":"27","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Ageing & Society","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X16001331","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2016/12/21 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"GERONTOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 27
Abstract
Although participating in community social programming is associated with positive physical and mental health outcomes for older adults, older men participate less often than women. Men's Sheds is a community programme used primarily by older men that originated in Australia and is well established there. The goal of the current study was to explore men's perceptions of the need for Men's Sheds and issues concerning access to them in Canada, a country with a small but growing Men's Sheds movement. We conducted focus groups with 64 men aged 55 years and older, including Men's Sheds members and men from the community who were unfamiliar with this programme, and analysed the data using the framework analytic approach. The data revealed two primary themes concerning: (a) the need for male-focused community programmes, including the sub-themes reducing isolation, forming friendships and engaging in continued learning; and (b) access to programmes, including the sub-themes points of contact, sustaining attendance and barriers. Findings suggest that in order to reduce the likelihood of isolation and increase opportunities for social engagement, exposure to the concept of male-focused programming should begin before retirement age. In addition, such programmes should be mindful of how they are branded and marketed in order to create spaces that are welcoming to new and diverse members.
期刊介绍:
Ageing & Society is an interdisciplinary and international journal devoted to the understanding of human ageing and the circumstances of older people in their social and cultural contexts. It draws contributions and has readers from many disciplines including gerontology, sociology, demography, psychology, economics, medicine, social policy and the humanities. Ageing & Society promotes high-quality original research which is relevant to an international audience to encourage the exchange of ideas across the broad audience of multidisciplinary academics and practitioners working in the field of ageing.