The mental health of men and boys: an overview.
This article provides insight and understanding into important issues of which nurses need to be aware when caring for men and boys with regard to their mental health. Inequalities in health care are discussed, and suggestions made concerning how all nurses can help redress these inequalities. The mental health of men and boys concerns all nurses; not just those working in mental health settings. The article focuses on a recent review published by the Men's Health Forum (Wilkins, 2010), and considers a number of gender-specific mental health issues that affect the health and wellbeing of men and boys. The role of the nurse is to protect and promote the health of people in their care and this article makes clear that this extends to and includes the mental health of men and boys. Labelling people and categorizing them into homogenous groups is not often helpful or strategically wise; this article does not wish to categorize, but merely attempts to explain.
School of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare, Faculty of Health and Human Sciences, Thames Valley University.
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D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005783:Gender Identity; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D018451:Homosexuality, Male; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008571:Men / Q000523:psychology*; D054526:Men's Health; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008889:Military Personnel; D008913:Minority Groups; D024802:Nurse's Role; D011287:Prejudice; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012945:Social Values