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What do we think we know and what do we really know about men’s health?

We’ve all heard stories that suggest that ‘macho’ men won’t talk about their health and have to be dragged to the doctor by women.  And yet we also hear tales of how ‘man flu’ has left men helpless but still loudly complaining.  Should we be more sceptical about these stereotypes?  What do we think we know and what do we really know about men’s health?

Our recent research on men’s health drew on an excellent internet resource (www.dipex.org) which provides access to personal experiences of a range of illnesses (e.g. bowel cancer, prostate cancer, stroke, heart attack).  Men and women of different ages and backgrounds across the UK are interviewed about their experience of health and illness and extracts of these interviews are featured on the website, along with well-researched health information, links to resources and a section where visitors to the site can post messages.  This means that anyone recently diagnosed with one of the illnesses covered on the site (or their friends and relatives) can go to the site and listen to, or read about, the experiences of someone similar to themselves.

We were able to access the full text of all the interviews with people who had depression and younger adults who had been diagnosed with cancer.  This allowed us to read what men actually said about their health, rather than relying on popular conceptions.  Some of our results challenged common stereotypes.  While many men may be strong, silent and stoic about illness, we found evidence that this was not the case for all men.  For example, the expectation that men cannot (or will not) talk about depression was not borne out.1  We also found differences among men in the ways that they talked about recovering from depression.  Many stressed the importance of traditionally ‘masculine’ characteristics, such as re-establishing control over their lives and moving from dependence to independence.  However, a minority emphasised their creativity, sensitivity and intelligence and defined their difference from other men as a positive feature.   This demonstrates that one size does not fit all when it comes to men’s health. 

These interviews also allowed us to explore what really concerns men as opposed to what we think matters to them.  For example, researchers have largely ignored hair loss due to chemotherapy among men with cancer because it is assumed that this is more of a problem for women.  However, we found that young men appeared to have as much difficulty as young women in adjusting to hair loss.2  They felt that their lack of hair marked them out as a ‘cancer patient’ and some had experienced negative reactions when people assumed their hairlessness was a fashion or lifestyle choice.  Young men were also concerned about losing body hair and the influence that this had on their sense of ‘masculinity’.  It is important that health professionals are aware of these experiences when treating men with cancer.

We need scientific evidence about men’s health in order to provide the best services.  Sometimes talking directly to men is the best way to get this evidence.  The findings from research are often complex as all men are not all alike.  What it means to ‘be a man’ varies according to where you live, how much money you have and by ethnicity, religion, age, sexuality and many other factors.  More research is necessary in order to replace stereotypical assumptions with solid evidence about men’s health in Scotland.

Carol Emslie, Gender and Health programme, MRC Social & Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow

For further information about this research, please click on ‘gender and health’ at http://www.sphsu.mrc.ac.uk/programmes_home.php

References

1. Emslie, C., Ridge, D., Ziebland, S. & Hunt, K. (2006) Men’s accounts of depression: reconstructing or resisting hegemonic masculinity? Social Science & Medicine 62 (9), 2246-2257.

2. Hilton, S., Hunt, K., Emslie, C., Salinas, M. & Ziebland, S. (in press) Have men been overlooked?  A comparison of young men and women’s experiences of chemotherapy-induced alopecia. Psycho-oncology doi: 10.1002/pon.1272.