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No abstract available.

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

Despite many health promotion efforts to reduce or stop women’s smoking during pregnancy and postpartum, less attention has focused on fathers’ smoking behaviours. This qualitative study examined interviews conducted with 20 new fathers to describe the connections between gender relations and men’s smoking during their partners’ pregnancy and the postpartum period. In addressing the question of what fathers’ perceive as their partners’ strategies to assist them to reduce or quit smoking, three key themes were identified: Supporting autonomy in men’s smoking cessation, nagging to challenge men’s freedom to smoke, and contempt for men’s continued smoking. In addressing the question of how heterosexual gender relations influence fathers’ masculine ideals in the context of smoking, two themes were identified: Reconciling to maintain a smoke-free home and smoking to mediate relationships. Social constructionist gender frameworks were used to theorize the findings. The results reveal the importance of constructing tobacco reduction and smoking cessation as a fathering responsibility amid trading on masculine ideals by appealing to men’s autonomy, willpower and strength to be smoke-free.

Men’s depression is a complex health care issue in Canadian society. Depression has negative impacts on many aspects of men’s lives including work performance, school achievement and relationship success. Adherence to hegemonic masculine ideals including strength and self-reliance lead some men to keep depression hidden amid broader social stigma whereby mental health challenges are often equated with weakness. Heterosexual men who experience depression rely heavily on relationship support from their women partners and often refuse to seek help from health care providers or engage with public health services. In order for men’s depression services to be effective, they must celebrate hegemonic masculine values including leadership and strength while acknowledging the key role women partners play in encouraging depressed men to seek help. Results include how depressed men go to great lengths to keep it hidden, attempt self-management, say that they want help but seldom make efforts to seek it, rely heavily on their women partners for support, make efforts to shield women partners from the most negative aspects of their condition and acknowledge that their women partners are critical to their recovery.

Background: Suicide is a serious health concern worldwide. In 2007, almost 4,000 Canadians took their own lives and among older and middle-age groups, suicide is one of the leading causes of death for both men and women. Given the far-reaching impact on families and societies, suicide has been widely studied; yet, accounts about the connections between suicide and culture in the context of immigrant populations are still poorly understood. Objective: To better understand the connections between suicide and culture, and to provide a foundation on which to build targeted culturally-sensitive suicide prevention programs, this research used qualitative research method to describe the perception and experiences of suicide of fifteen Korean-Canadian immigrants.Results: Three inductively derived themes were identified to detail the study findings: 1) perceptions of and attitudes toward suicide among Korean-Canadian immigrants; 2) narratives around the causes and triggers of their suicidal thoughts and behaviours; and 3) manifestations of and strategies to manage their suicidal thoughts and behaviours. Within these three themes, there are a total of nine sub-themes which are intricately connected. Discussion: While recognising and embodying stigma around suicide, participants understood the hopelessness and despair that could drive immigrants toward suicide. Causes and triggers for suicidal thoughts most often emerged from academic pressures, estranged family, and dis-identities – all of which were intricately connected to participants’ immigration experiences. Noteworthy were deeply embedded Confucian values, which could exert an array of influences on Korean-Canadians. In addition, extensively discussed were dis-identity experiences whereby a sense of self and as well as collectivist familial bonds were challenged, and suicidal ideation could flow toward and/or from these changes. Many participants were unaware of mental health services and programs amid being challenged by language barriers when they did access mental health services. While, it is critical for healthcare providers to understand immigrant patients’ cultural background to fully assess their risk for suicide, also urgently needed are targeted efforts to raise public awareness about suicide and educate immigrants about professional and self-help options to manage their mental health and well-being.

Male nurses can bring energy and knowledge along with diverse beliefs and values to their workplaces. When taking care of dying patients, male ICU nurses may also have an array of issues concerning comfort care, and their unique ways of coping with stress that can accompany such events. Male ICU nurses also have distinct ways for maintaining their well-being and for sustaining their masculine ideals when caring for dying patients and working in a female-dominated environment. Many research studies have focused on how nurses care for dying patients, but few studies have explored the experiences of male ICU nurses caring for dying patients. The current study addresses this significant knowledge gap and provides valuable insights on how male ICU nurses connect masculine ideals with stress coping strategies in a female-dominated environment. Using an interpretive descriptive qualitative approach, this study provides understandings of male ICU nurses’ struggles and feelings when they witness their patients’ death. The findings indicated that most participants drew on masculine ideals to act as providers in meeting the needs of the patients and their families. That said, most participants also transgressed some masculine ideals by expressing their feelings, such as shedding tears at the bedside and talking about their emotions to help reduce stress. Many participants also reported appreciating their life and their families more after witnessing patients’ death. They also used effective strategies to cope with the stress in their lives and workplace. Furthermore, participants believed that they were equals to the female nurses both in terms of competency and in their ability to care for patients and families. Finally, this study also enhances opportunity to learn how to increase understanding in supporting male ICU nurses at their workplaces.

Few authors have specifically analyzed college men’s help-seeking for depression. Those studies that have focused on the relationship between college men’s attitudes towards seeking psychological help and the male gender role are limited in that they neglect to contextualize help-seeking behaviours. Earlier studies have also assumed that all college men adhere to traditional masculine ideals in their help-seeking decision-making. This qualitative study analyzed 21 interviews with college men who self-reported as having either clinical depression or symptoms of depression. In acknowledging the multiplicity of masculinities, this study used social constructionism to explore the way in which college men enact their masculinities in various help-seeking contexts for depression-related symptoms. Four key themes were identified: conforming to social norms, maintaining stoicism and limiting self-disclosure around friends and peers, family validating the need for professional help, and preserving autonomy. This study also examined the interplay between college men’s masculinities and their perception of help-seeking for depression symptoms. The findings demonstrate the college men’s masculine ideals surrounding help-seeking for mental illnesses.