Foster Emma J, Munoz Sarah-Anne, Leslie Stephen J
School of Medicine, Medical Sciences & Nutrition, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.
Division of Health Research, Rural Health & Wellbeing, University of the Highlands and Islands, Inverness, UK.
Health Soc Care Community. 2018 Jul;26(4):527-537. doi: 10.1111/hsc.12560. Epub 2018 Feb 21.
Social isolation and loneliness are known to be associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Therefore, reducing social isolation and loneliness may improve such outcomes. In relation to men's health, "Men's Sheds" have been shown as one mechanism to achieve this. Studies in Australia and England have shown social, health and personal benefits; however, this remains an area that has not yet been researched in Scotland. This study, therefore, aimed to assess the characteristics of attendees, self-reported motivations for and the values and benefits of attending the Shed from the views of the attendees themselves. The participants of the study were the members of a Men's Shed in the North of Scotland, which was initially set-up by a small number of core Shedders. A convenience sample was recruited by opportunistic interviewing of participants when they attended the Shed using a mixed methods approach from 1 to 15 November 2016. In the absence of a validated questionnaire, a bespoke questionnaire was developed in several iterative stages. The answers to the questionnaire were transferred to an electronic database and analysed by frequency and thematic analysis. The participants (n = 31) had a mean age (SD) of 69.7 ± 9.5 with 96.8% being retired, thus the majority of the Shed users were older and retired. The results suggest that there were several benefits from attending the Shed, with an overwhelming majority of the sample reporting personal, social and health benefits-however, more research is needed to determine the magnitude of these. This study has also shown that the men attending the Shed frequently discussed health, which could potentially have a beneficial effect. The Shed therefore, as a community project, has the potential to have a positive impact on health welfare by focusing on the social aspects of life.
众所周知，社会隔离和孤独与发病率和死亡率的增加有关。因此，减少社会隔离和孤独可能会改善这些结果。关于男性健康，“男性活动中心”已被证明是实现这一目标的一种方式。澳大利亚和英国的研究表明了其在社交、健康和个人方面的益处；然而，苏格兰尚未对这一领域进行研究。因此，本研究旨在从参与者自身的角度评估参加男性活动中心的人员特征、自我报告的参与动机以及参与活动中心的价值和益处。该研究的参与者是苏格兰北部一个男性活动中心的成员，该中心最初由少数核心成员设立。2016年11月1日至15日，采用混合方法，通过在参与者前往活动中心时进行机会性访谈，招募了一个便利样本。由于没有经过验证的问卷，经过几个迭代阶段开发了一份定制问卷。问卷答案被录入电子数据库，并通过频率分析和主题分析进行分析。参与者（n = 31）的平均年龄（标准差）为69.7±9.5岁，96.8%已退休，因此大多数活动中心使用者年龄较大且已退休。结果表明，参加活动中心有诸多益处，绝大多数样本报告了个人、社交和健康方面的益处——然而，需要更多研究来确定这些益处的程度。本研究还表明，参加活动中心的男性经常讨论健康问题，这可能会产生有益影响。因此，作为一个社区项目，活动中心通过关注生活的社会方面，有可能对健康福利产生积极影响。
