Understanding men's health and illness: a gender-relations approach to policy, research, and practice

Men's health has emerged as an important public concern that may require new kinds of healthcare interventions and increased resources. Considerable uncertainty and confusion surround prevailing understandings of men's health, particularly those generated by media debate and public policy, and health research has often operated on oversimplified assumptions about men and masculinity. A more useful way of understanding men's health is to adopt a gender-relations approach. This means examining health concerns in the context of men's and women's interactions with each other, and their positions in the larger, multidimensional structure of gender relations. Such an approach raises the issue of differences among men, which is a key issue in recent research on masculinity and an important health issue. The gender-relations approach offers new ways of addressing practical issues of healthcare for men in college environments.     

Now Being Social: The Barrier of Designing Outdoor Play Spaces for Disabled Children

The design of outdoor public play spaces such that disabled children can make use of them is set in the three constructs of play, childhood and disability, drawing upon academic learning, international policy and national policy in England. The suggestion is made that one of the main barriers to the adequate provision of such spaces is that providers and designers do not know how to design such spaces. The paper explores the knowledge which is available to overcome this barrier and which might lead to the provision and design of appropriate outdoor play spaces that disabled children can more fully use.     

Communication About Sexuality With Mothers and Stepmothers From the Perspective of Young Adult Daughters

Children can benefit when they are able to talk about sexuality with their parents. Studies indicate that adolescents prefer to discuss sexuality primarily with their same-sex peers and siblings. In families, teens prefer confiding in their mothers, then their fathers, and finally their stepparents of either gender. In an exploratory qualitative study, using a family systems and communication boundary perspective, 19 young women who self-identified as having a positive relationship with their mothers and nonresidential stepmothers were interviewed in depth. One area of strength identified was that the participants had open communication with their mothers. Although the volume of communication between mothers and daughters was greater than between stepmothers and stepdaughters, the content differed. Ten of the young women could confide in their stepmothers about their sexual experiences, whereas none of young women confided about sexuality with the mothers, with the exception of sexual health issues. This finding might indicate an unrecognized characteristic of positive stepmother–stepdaughter functioning. Practice implications are explored.     

Understanding the Influence of Loneliness on HIV Risk Behavior in Young Men Who Have Sex with Men

In this study we used grounded theory methodology to understand the influence of loneliness in YMSM in terms of HIV risk behavior. Twenty-two YMSM, 18–29 years of age, of HIV-negative/unknown status were interviewed. Results indicated that loneliness is defined in two ways: emotional and social. A cyclical pattern emerged that included negative symptoms, “self-treatment” of loneliness through drug use and sex, temporary relief, remorse related to engaging in HIV risk behaviors, negative self-image, and ultimately the reemergence of initial loneliness symptoms. Results suggest that loneliness in YMSM plays a greater role in HIV-related behavior than previously understood. A preliminary explanatory model, implications, and directions for future research are discussed.