Beyond the barriers: Supporting men’s mental health

Project description

Men often show poorer mental health and reduced help-seeking of professional support. Gender-specific barriers contribute to this, including masculine stereotypes, social norms, stigmatisation of mental illness, and difficulties in recognising and communicating about mental health. Our objective is to uncover these gender-specific barriers to communication and help-seeking, and to im-prove the mental health screening and support for men in primary care.

Research aim

We aim to understand the factors behind men’s lower use of mental health services and how targeted digital tools in primary care can help overcome these barriers to help men communicate better and seek help regarding mental health. To do so, we will conduct a survey, interviews and focus groups with male patients and general practitioners. We will use the findings from these to develop and evaluate a digital screening tool for men’s mental health in primary care settings.

Purpose

Our research will generate insight into gender-specific biases in and barriers to patients seeking help and communicating about mental health in Switzerland. It can also benefit male patients and healthcare professionals by facilitating timely support for men’s mental health. We will implement our findings via a co-creation approach involving all relevant stakeholders, including our interpro-fessional team, people with lived experience, and research and practitioner partners in healthcare.