Not a Load of Garbage Older men and diversity

1
Not a Load of Garbage Older men and diversity

• Anthony Brown
• University of Western Sydney

2

• I needed to see that it was alright to be a
  male. Even with all my failings, I am OK. And
  nobody said I was a load of garbage because I was
  a male. Nobody said I was violent or all sorts
  of things. Which I may be, but nobody would look
  down at me.
• Keeping the Balance

3
Older Men and Diversity

• Health creating framework
• Older men, realities and challenges
• Older men and services
• The way forward

4
(No Transcript)
5
Salutogenic population health
A model for working with diversity
6
Population health

• A social view of health (Marmot and Wilkinson
  1998, 2000)
• Acknowledgement of sub-populations
• Re-conceptualising health and health services
• a balance between prevention and treatment
• emphasis on health and its maintenance
  (not just on disease and its treatment)

7
Population health

• Incorporate the elements of WHOs Health
  for All
• A concern for equity
• Participation of the given population
• Acknowledge the role of other sectors in creating
  sustainable environments of health
• A concern for evidence based programs and
  policies.

8
Salutogenic

• positive, life-enhancing 
• Salutogenesis - human resilience in the face of
  great adversity (Antonovosky 1979)
• Opposite of pathogenesis
• We need to move away from the pathology-oriented,
  deficiency and disease-based models of medicine
  (Macdonald 2005)
• We need to focus on and consciously promote
  conditions which foster good health.

9
A SalutogenicPopulation Health Approach

• A population health approach seeks to examine
  what is salutogenic.
• What is enhancing in the contexts of peoples
  lives their physical, emotional, economic and
  cultural environments.
• Macdonald 2000, 2005

10
Cultural Attitudes to Men

• Link between societal attitudes and health
  policies and services
• Deficit models prevail
• Mens poor health linked to mens perceived bad
  behaviour

11

Grumpy Old Men

• Theyre in the garden or the shed
• They dont volunteer
• They dont come to our service

12
X
13
WORK

• Friends
• Money
• Sense of being in control
• Feeling productive
• Identity

14
(No Transcript)
15
Retirement

• Become sick
• Become a carer
• Family and friends, get sick, move away, or die
• Financial Problems
• BOREDOM

16
What Effects Older Mens Social Wellbeing?
17
Keeping the Threads Together

• Study conducted in 2004
• Results will be published in Quality in Ageing
  next month

18
The Research Team
Suzanne Gleeson
Cerdic Hall
Jack Zinn
19
What affects social wellbeing?

• Retirement
• Health status
• Wives and Widowhood
• Changing relationships

20
Barriers to becoming involved

• Transport
• Financial
• Knowledge of whats available
• Attitudes
• Of older men
• Of service providers

21
Health and CommunityServices

• Social welfare and all that sort of stuff is
  run by women and generally lack mens
  participation.
• Thats all it amounts to really
• from Keeping the Balance (2001)

22
Health and CommunityServices

• Its a feminised world as far as thats
  concerned.
• The social welfare or whatever you want to call
  it.
• from Keeping the Balance (2001)

23
(No Transcript)
24
Volunteering

• Attitudes to older men
• I think she the volunteer coordinator thinks
  all men can do is drive cars.
• from Keeping the Balance (2001)

25
Attitudes to older men
And she asked me, was I over forty-nine years of
age. I said yes. So she said we wont take any
members over forty-nine years of age. I said
why and she said
26
Well there is the, um, things that old men do to
young boys. And I said well thats the finish
of it. from Keeping the Balance (2001)
27
What givesactivities meaning?
28
The activities that givemeaning for older men

• Utilisation or learning of skills/knowledge
• Physical activity
• Contributing to the lives of others
• Sharing common interests

29
Being with like-minded people
30
Community Mens Sheds

• Can provide all these things
• Often started by groups of interested men
• Lane Cove Mens Shed
• Manly Community Mens Shed
• North Sydney Community Mens Shed
• all auspiced by UnitingCare Ageing
• 2nd National Community Mens Shed Conference
  13-14 September 2007, Manly
• http//www.mensshed.org/

31
(No Transcript)
32
Range of activities one size does NOT fit all
33
What older men want

• To be active and contribute, not passive
  recipients of services
• To have a say
• Older Men Friendly activities and services
• To be with other men (mostly)
• To have choice - men have a range of interests
• Information
• To be invited??

34
Challenges the myths

• Men dont talk
• Men are afraid of intimacy
• Men dont engage in community activities
• Perhaps it is time to re-think
• our ideas about men!

35
Men and Diversity

• What have discussions of diversity taught us?
• Importance of respect for all
• Importance of celebration and honouring

36
Cultural Shift

• Need to develop positive language about men and
  boys and their health
• Acknowledge the positive contributions of men and
  boys
• Need to work on creating health sustaining
  environments for men and boys

37
Jack Zinn
In the end thats whats important. Being content
and connected with life and the people around
you.
38
(No Transcript)
39

• Keeping the Balance
• Older Men and Health Ageing
• Discussion paper can be downloaded from
• NSW Ministerial Advisory Committee on Ageing
• www.maca.nsw.gov.au
• Blokes and Sheds Meaningful Activities for Men
  with Dementia in Aged Care Facilities (and the
  Community)
• by Keith Bettany Alzheimers Australia SA
• www.alzheimers.org.au
• (click on SA then Behaviour Advisory Service)