Where Are All the Men? A Qualitative Review of the Barriers, Facilitators, and Recommendations to Older Male Participation in Health Promotion Interventions

Abstract

Objective Older men have lower participation rates than females in health promotion interventions. We conducted a qualitative review of 20 years of existing research across a variety of academic search databases to outline the barriers, facilitators, and recommendations for this imbalance. Data Source A systematic search was conducted across Google Scholar, PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Academic Search Premier, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, and Web of Science from dates January 1, 2000 – December 31, 2020. Study Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria Abstracts were screened based on: original research, English language, recruitment or participation, health promotion or health program, and male gender. Data Extraction Of 1194 initial search results, 383 article abstracts were thoroughly screened for inclusion and 26 articles met inclusion criteria. Synthesis Included studies were coded and analyzed using Grounded Theory. Results Barriers included masculine gender roles as well as program scope, environment, and gender of the instructors and other participants. Facilitators included creating social groups of older males that participate in a variety of activities together, including hobbies and health promotion, over a long period of time. Conclusion Health promotion interventions should involve men in all aspects of program planning and implementation, take into account men’s existing relationships and interests to create gender-sensitive programming, and clearly delineate the benefits to participation.

Black men’s health-related quality of life: A qualitative study to understand community-identified perception and needs.

“…The inclusion of psychological, social, and spiritual functioning and the view that these components are interrelated are informative given that previous qualitative research among Black men from rural areas has found that these men mostly associate health with physical health (Abshire et al, 2023). These findings have implications for future health promotion efforts among Black men given that (a) explanations of health among Black men have been narrowly focused (Howell et al, 2023;Jack et al, 2010) and primarily on physical health problems (Gilbert et al, 2016;Wippold et al, 2022) and (b) there have been few comprehensive explanations for the high rates of adverse health among Black men (Griffith et al, 2022;Jack et al, 2010). Future HRQoL promotion efforts among these men may benefit from being comprehensive by addressing physical, psychological, social, and spiritual indicators of health.…”

Conditions for successful implementation of couple-based collaborative management model of diabetes among community-dwelling older Chinese: a qualitative comparative analysis

“…This gendered care pattern was also reported in American couples over food-related behavior changes [ 38 ]. Masculine gender roles were identified as a barrier, with husbands paying less attention to their wives’ health promotion activities [ 39 ]. It also may be a manner of protective buffering [ 17 ], such that protecting their spouses from negative emotions and avoiding arguments due to diabetes symptoms or management requirements.…”

Research priorities and considerations for nutrition research: methods of sex and gender analysis for biomedical and nutrition research

“…In a similar vein, interventions and strategies to support people to adhere to these dietary recommendations often take a one-size-fits-all approach assuming that such interventions are equally appreciated by men and women and produce equal adherence to recommendations. There is some evidence that points to the contrary, and gender-sensitive policies, treatments and interventions have been called for (33)(34)(35)(36) . In order to design such effective gender-sensitive interventions to promote dietary change, the determinants of dietary intake need to be targeted.…”