Men at Risk: Considering Masculinity During Hospital-Based Social Work Intervention

Abstract

The needs of hospitalized male patients are often unrecognized and unmet. Men occupy greater than half of all inpatient hospital beds and incur a broad array of illnesses and injuries at higher rates than women--yet often receive health care that pays surprisingly little attention to the concept of patient masculinity, or to masculinity's influence on the male patient's perspectives, behaviors, goals, interests, needs, and challenges. Little emphasis is placed on considering hospitalized male patients as men , understanding their need for patient-centered care within this context, and intervening in ways that regularly allow strengths to be adequately recognized and utilized. In this article, we explore how hospital social workers can reconsider masculinity as a vibrant and formative component of male patients' lives and actively view its characteristics as comprising more than just potential challenges to medical treatment--but also as untapped sources of resilience and strength.

The Need to Be Superman: The Psychosocial Support Challenges of Young Men Affected by Cancer

“…However, according to participants here and in other research, personally acknowledging weakness would hurt perceptions of masculinity (Winnett, Furman, & Enterline, 2012).…”

The Unheard Gender: The Neglect of Men as Social Work Clients

“…The above-noted survey yielded very few articles specifically on men. Leung and Chan's (2014) paper on the impact of unemployment on men in China and Winnett et al 's (2012) paper on men's coping with health problems are among the few exceptions. I found only a handful of papers on the emotional stress experienced by men following divorce and separation (e.g.…”

“…Kosberg (2002 , 2005 ) points out that social work literature may either not include content on men or portray them in a stereotypic manner. Winnett et al (2012) emphasise the importance of considering gender in hospital care and suggest ways of working with hospitalised men. Leung and Chan (2014) point to a ‘masculinity crisis’ and critique the lack of ‘gender consciousness’ in the social services for men in Hong Kong.…”

¿Y los hombres? Producción científica y contenidos formativos sobre trabajo social y masculinidades en España

“…Tras la revisión de estos 21 artículos, sólo 5 se corresponden con temáticas relacionadas con el trabajo social. Estos cinco artículos (Hammaren, Lunneblad & Johansson, 2015;Hirokawa, Yagi y Miyata, 2002;Ismail, Idrus y Sahuri, 2020;Pease, 2018;Winnett, Furman, & Enterline, 2012) versan sobre las actitudes en torno a la intervención con hombres de quienes se dedican al trabajo social; los comportamientos saludables de trabajadores y trabajadoras sociales; el conocimiento de la masculinidad y cómo emplearlo en el trabajo social deportivo; el cuidado y la masculinidad; y la relevancia de la masculinidad en el trabajo social hospitalario.…”