Should probably mention that the survey for this study was conducted in Australia in 2021 as an online self-report survey. It was funded by the government and the participants were selected and invited via text/email, though. I say this to contextualize more than anything else.
From reading the solutions considered as potentially effective in the paper, it would seem there’s still a big patriarchy problem for younger men in Australia. While it does show younger men had work commitments as a disproportionately higher barrier for them than older men, I wonder how much of it is typical corpo discouragement versus the “gRiNdSeT mInDsEt” bullshit getting shoved on them by those grifter finance-bros on social media. I get that it’s outside the scope of the paper, but surely things like that need more consideration in these studies if they’re looking into this for better health engagement(which is, admittedly, my assumption). I dunno, it just seems like all we’re doing is treating superficial symptoms when some of the suggestions are framing getting medical help as ‘strong rather than weak’ or that pro-active medical consultations can be framed as optimizing job performance.
The whole men’s barrier to seeking care think has gone on way longer than the grindset attitude of late. Any doctor or nurse will tell you “My wife/child made me come” are scary words to hear from a man in the ER. I think a big aspect is related to the grindset attitude though, but is deeper and more indolent. It’s that men are often primary/majority breadwinners in a household lots of the time, and on top of the social stigma of seeking care (independence, weakness), you make more money if you set your health on the backburner. The benefits of primary care are not often easy to conceptualize (you never think about a stroke you didn’t have) and this diminishes the importance of regular primary care vs acute care for illness and injury. It’s important to note that this is a generational trend in both sexes, healthy, young folks are less likely to have a regular primary care physician as compared to older people or children.
Which is great because if course life has gotten less stressful and the younger generations have stronger social circles /s
I’m also uninsured. Seeking professional help costs $$$. It has very little to do with desire to seek help.
