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Comparatively, men have poorer physical and mental health outcomes than women, with a significantly higher suicide rate. Contributory factors are thought to be social and biological, leading to reduced access to health-care services. The study aims to develop and implement community-based support to increase awareness of and access to men’s mental health support networks and groups.

The project involved three key work-packages discussed in this paper: raising awareness of men’s mental health needs in health care, educational and community settings; collaboration between National Health Services (NHS) and non-NHS health-care support organisations to build multi-sector partnership working; and developing a supported sports-based community intervention aimed at men living with mental health conditions. The acceptability and feasibility of these work-packages were pragmatically evaluated through mixed-methods surveys and qualitative content analysis.

Overall, both community events and sports groups successfully engaged men living with mental health problems. Organisations interested in men’s mental health are continuing to engage in a partnership initiative. Community events were well-attended and received positive feedback, particularly regarding the educative and real-life experiences approach promoted in the events. The sports intervention is feasible and well-accepted by participants, who described feeling supported with their physical and mental health needs, with increased mental well-being reported.

The main limitations of this project are that the authors only evaluated a football group rather than all work areas. The project collected outcomes relating to participants’ demographics and qualitative reflections of participating in the football group along with a retrospective survey of perceived benefits, but the project did not undertake a pre- and post-comparison of well-being outcomes owing to low completion of these measures. Future work could focus on collecting more pre- and post-measures related to well-being, recovery and inclusion and compare these with men not involved in the football groups or public events.

This paper discusses the development and feasibility of setting up community-based men’s mental health support networks, involving public events, partnership working and targeted-sports interventions. All initiatives were well-received and successfully attended by men living with mental health conditions. Evaluation of the programme revealed the value placed on education about mental health and the role that community sports interventions may play in men’s mental health care.

This project has demonstrated three different ways of supporting men’s mental health needs in the community. Community public events were held to raise awareness of men’s mental health needs and issues were well-attended and highlighted the need for health promotion and education in this area across all the communities. The men’s football group demonstrated the feasibility of moving mental health support out into a non-clinical and more community arena in a way that men engaged effectively. Finally, the creation of MensNet has bought together disparate multi-sector organisations successfully to lead public health mechanisms to support men’s mental health needs.

This paper describes a new multi-disciplined approach to supporting health-seeking challenges among men, in particular, how partnership working across NHS and non-NHS sectors can successfully support an identified public health need pragmatically using existing services and organisations.

This paper seeks to provide an overview of key issues involved in older men's mental health and well being and describes a service improvement project called Grouchy Old Men? that focused on older men who were isolated and at risk of depression and suicide.

Grouchy Old Men? was a two‐year project that used a “change agent” model of organisational development, which aimed to improve the mental health and well being of older men through gathering and disseminating examples of good practice and piloting a training module to raise awareness about the mental health of older men.

The project was successful in supporting and promoting a number of local initiatives and organisations, as well as a national network, seeking to develop services to better meet the needs of this group, as well as raising awareness more generally about older men's mental health.

The paper suggests ways that services for older people can develop in order to make themselves more accessible to older men with mental health needs.

The paper brings together policy, research, and practical service improvement initiatives that will be of interest and relevance to policy makers, practitioners, and anyone with an interest in the mental health of older men.

The medicalization thesis derives from a classic theme in the field of medical sociology. It addresses the broader issue of the power of medicine – as a culture and as a profession – to define and regulate social behavior. This issue was introduced into sociology 50 years ago by Talcott Parsons (1951) who suggested that medicine was a social institution that regulated the kind of deviance for which the individual was not held morally responsible and for which a medical diagnosis could be found. The agent of social control was the medical profession, an institutionalized structure in society that had been given the mandate to restore the health of the sick so that they could resume their expected role obligations. Inherent in this view of medicine was the functionalist perspective on the workings of society: the basic function of medicine was to maintain the established division of labor, a state that guaranteed the optimum working of society. For 20 years, the Parsonian interpretation of how medicine worked – including sick-role theory and the theory of the profession of medicine – dominated the bourgeoning field of medical sociology.

The purpose of this paper is to present findings from an evaluation of a community mental health resilience intervention for unemployed men aged 45-60. The focus is on examining the place of facilitated peer support within a multi-dimensional men’s mental health programme, and exploring implications for resilience building delivery approaches for men.

The paper draws on a mixed methodology design involving before and after survey data and qualitative interviews, to report results concerning effectiveness in changing men’s perceived resilience, to consider project processes concerning peer support, and to situate these within wider community environments.

The programme significantly raised the perceived resilience of participants. Project activities promoted trusting informal social connections, gains in social capital arose through trusting relations and skill-sharing, and peer-peer action-focused talk and planning enhanced men’s resilience.

The paper considers facilitated peer support on a programme, rather than on-going informal peer support or more formal peer support roles (a limitation reflecting the boundaries of the funded programme).

The paper discusses emerging considerations for resilience building, focusing on gender-sensitive approaches which can engage and retain men by focusing on doing and talking. It highlights the importance of peer support in community interventions which feature a social model of change. There is potential for encouraging further peer mentoring and peer led support beyond facilitated peer support in programme delivery.

Potential exists for gender-aware programmes to sustain salutogenic change, co-producing social assets of peer support, male-friendly activities, and context sensitive course provision.

The paper adds fresh evidence of gendered intervention approaches with a specific focus on facilitated community peer support, including effects on male resilience. Little previous resilience research is gendered, there is little gendered research on peer support, and unemployed middle-aged men are a significant risk group.

The purpose of this paper is to present findings from an evaluation of a mental health resilience intervention for unemployed men aged 45-60. The focus is on examining the place of activities within a multi-dimensional men’s mental health programme, and exploring interactions between social context factors and models of change.

The paper draws on before and after survey data and qualitative interviews, to report results concerning effectiveness in changing men’s perceived resilience, to consider project processes concerning activities, social support and coping strategies, and to situate these within wider environments.

The programme significantly raised the perceived resilience of participants. Activities were engaging for men, while the complex intersection between activities, social networking, and coping strategies course provided opportunities for men to develop resilience in contexts resonant with their male identities.

A limitation is that the evaluation could not measure longer term impacts.

The paper discusses emerging considerations for resilience building, focusing on gender-sensitive approaches which can engage and retain men by focusing on doing and talking, in the contexts of men’s life-course, highlighting embodied (male) identities not disembodied “mental states”, and facilitating social support. There are challenges to recruit men despite stigma, support men to speak of feelings, and facilitate progression.

Potential exists for gender-aware programmes to sustain salutogenic change, co-producing social assets of peer support, male-friendly activities, and context sensitive course provision.

The paper adds fresh evidence of gendered intervention approaches, including effects on male resilience. Application of a context-sensitive change model leads to multi-component findings for transferring and sustaining programme gains.

Questions whether organizational well-being strategies always recognize the differences between men and women when it comes to mental health.

Shows why men’s mental health is an area of concern and reveals how to ensure that an organization’s well-being strategy looks after men, as well as women.

Describes how the limited research that exists regarding the mental health of men paints a picture of men experiencing mental ill health in a different way from women. This makes it less likely that it will be identified, recognized or addressed using the current “female model” of mental health.

Advises organizations to: train their managers to recognize the different symptoms of reduced mental health that men present with, so that they can identify when male staff are experiencing mental ill health; raise awareness of the fact that men experience mental ill health and that it is alright to talk about feelings; and remember that men may be very reluctant to talk to someone in the workplace about how they feel and may not want to talk to their doctor for the same reasons.

Advises organizations to: train their managers to recognize the different symptoms of reduced mental health that men present with, so that they can identify when male staff are experiencing mental ill health; raise awareness of the fact that men experience mental ill health and that it is alright to talk about feelings; and remember that men may be very reluctant to talk to someone in the workplace about how they feel and may not want to talk to their doctor for the same reasons.

Considers that there has been a wealth of research into the mental health of women but still relatively little into the mental health of men.

Provides a set of practical recommendations for organizations to ensure that they are taking account of the mental health of their male employees.

The purpose of this study is to describe peer support work in a men’s mental health unit from a lived experience and service user’s perspective. The intertwining of process (a lived experience perspective) and subject (the therapeutic value of peer support) leads to greater knowledge and insight into peer support for people with mental health problems.

This service user narrative draws on the extracts from a reflective journal of interactions and conversations with people with mental health problems as well as feedback from service users and staff about the value of peer support. These methods allow a first-person, service user’s, reflective and narrative account of peer support work.

Peer support work, particularly hearing voices sessions, are found to be highly therapeutic and worthwhile. They promote insight and create feelings of safety and hope in what can sometimes be a frightening and hostile ward environment. Peer support provides emotional and practical support. Sharing stories and experiences of mental illness with people leads to trust, feelings of being valued, heard and accepted as well as better experiences of care and being seen as a person first. Due to their shared experiences, peer support workers are able to befriend people with mental health problems on the ward. Peer support work bridges the gap and vacuum of care between people with mental health problems and staff. It compensates for understaffing to provide more holistic and person-centred care and support.

Lived experience/ service user perspectives and narratives on peer support are rare, particularly in a hospital setting. This article provides a rich, perhaps overlooked and hidden narrative on the nature of peer support work. People with mental health problems, like Ben, are often excluded from society, health and social care, education, employment and research. This narrative opens up a pathway to understanding peer support from a service user perspective.

This paper describes the ideas related to forensic practice with people with learning disabilities through a study that explores the apparent ‘truths’ about people with learning disabilities who are detained in forensic settings (referred to here as ‘the men’) and the staff who work with them by an analysis the dialogue contained in retrospective data from interviews and focus groups.The men in these settings are subject to intense stigma and disadvantage; socially and legally. Not only are they categorised as having a learning disability, but also have the added stigma of being offenders, and commonly having mental health issues that expose them to the worst of myths surrounding learning disability; such as the possibility of being viewed as ‘dangerous monsters and sex fiends’ (French & Swain, 2008). Similarly, but to a lesser degree, forensic nurses are stigmatised and subject to strict laws, policies and practices and stereotyped as prison wardens and ‘tough guys’. These ideas may be exposed and challenged through studying the discourses in the dialogue. Therefore, the general research questions included the following.• What are the discourses related to learning disability and forensic practice?• What ideologies underpin and justify forensic practice?This paper is primarily concerned with the way that the staff and the men experience the medium secure unit (MSU) and their views as to the advantages and disadvantages of secure care.The findings generally suggest that the men and the staff are very positive about their lives.They report that the men have many attributes and talents, and view having a learning disability as an advantage at times; the staff enjoy their work and have good relationships with the men. Paradoxically1, there are also negative discourses identified, some of which permeate from macro ideologies into policy and practice to justify the men's treatment in the MSU.The analysis showed that despite the certainty that many feel about the justifications for holding men with learning disabilities in secure settings, many paradoxes exist in the discourses in this setting, which question the validity of official knowledge in this area ‐ this is essentially a Foucauldian idea (Foucault, 1975). Foucault's ideas on the way that knowledge and practice may be challenged are important to this paper.

Traditional masculinity ideologies dictate men should be tough, self-reliant and display restrictive emotionality. Men who seek mental health services, a behavior that typically involves expressing feelings and showing dependence, are often subject to stigma. The purpose of the study is to examine the gendered perceptions of men who seek help for mental health concerns, as well as how masculine advertisements moderate these perceptions.

After viewing either masculine or control advertisements, participants read descriptions of men who sought help for psychological or physical symptoms and provided masculinity ratings in a task ostensibly unrelated to the advertisements.

Across two experiments, participants perceived the male target who sought help for psychological symptoms, a behavior incongruent with the traditional masculinity ideologies, as less masculine than his counterpart seeking help for physical symptoms. Importantly, exposure to masculine advertisements attenuated the gendered perceptions for psychological help-seeking: viewing masculine advertisements led participants to deliberately reflect on society’s expectations for men to be physically masculine and tough and the extent to which men should conform to these standards. These reflections counteract the effect of stigma on the gendered perceptions of men seeking help for mental health concerns.

The representation of men as masculine and rugged in advertisements is believed to contribute to public perceptions of men seeking help for mental health concerns. Yet the current research demonstrates an unexpected effect of viewing masculine advertisements in attenuating the gendered perceptions of men’s help-seeking.