Mental health articles

The Emerging New Public Health Paradigm and Practice Within the field of men’s health, there is a growing call for a new approach in terms of public health practice. Rather than working within the negative paradigm of pathologising men’s health, leading academicswithin the field, such as Professor John Macdonald at the University of Western Sydney (Australia), are advocating for a more  salutogenic (health generating) approach. Following the medical sociologist, Aaron Antonovsky, Macdonald and Crawford (2002) urge health professionals and policy makers to focus on what generates or promotes health for men and that acknowledges and fosters their positive social value. Important research in Australia indicates that men in “safe [non-shaming], well-facilitated groups [good group processes and dynamics] associated with their networks” (Hayes 2002, p. 83) can and will discuss and act upon their health concerns. Growing numbers of agencies and communities are recognizing the need to create opportunities for men to maintain their social connections in the face of growing rates of workforce redundancy for men over 50 years of age and decreased opportunities for non-consumerist leisure options for males of all ages. These opportunities for social connectedness benefit men in terms of both mental and physical health by providing for instrumental, affective and inspirational support. Additionally, research indicates that agencies that adopt policies, plans, procedures and protocols that work with men on their own “terms and turf” are more attractive and, therefore, beneficial to men than those which are heavily professionalized or feminized. In terms of both the men and those who work with them effectively, social change is currently occurring through innovative, opportunistic, localized approaches rather than top down and whole of system approaches. As a movement, men’s health is only beginning to gain momentum and it remains largely ‘western’ in ethos. This momentum is largely the result of voluntary efforts and “grass roots” initiatives. Linkages and networks are only recently beginning to be formed across multiple sectors and disciplines. National and international conferences on men’s health are being held on a recurring basis. A number of peer-reviewed journals or newsletters are now being published to provide support for these endeavors: Harvard Men’s Health Watch, Journal of Men’s Health and Gender, Journal of Men’s Studies, and the International Journal of Men’s Health. It is incumbent on those working with men to apprise themselves of the wide range of resources increasingly available to shed light on the complex biomedical, psycho- social, structural and cultural historical issues relating to men’s health. (Luck et al. 2000) This can help to generate a more comprehensive, and less naïve, understanding of what engenders or endangers the health of men and the ones with

Tags: Health, public health