As you engage with this week’s discussion and with one another, be sure to read what has already been posted and then add substantively to the discussion. Time goes quickly, so remember to post early in the week! The first question is based on what you have learned so far in this course so that you can post immediately without having completed all of this week’s readings.
Read the following case and be prepared to discuss it with your class members.
John is a 48 year old man. He is employed as a customer service representative in a large corporation. He has three children, one in college, one in high school, and one in middle school. He has a history of headaches, which he controls with a prescription medication. Lately, the headaches have been worse.
Part 1: The first question in this discussion is opinion and experience-based, so you can begin immediately. For subsequent questions please meaningfully integrate your readings including the text, articles, and module notes.
1. In your own words and using your own thoughts fill in the details in John’s story. Describe his home and work life. Describe his relationship with his children. Is there a wife or significant other. What factors in his life might be contributing to his headaches? What has he done about these headaches?
Part 2: After reading the assigned readings for this week and watching the videos, respond to the following questions:
1. After reviewing the module materials, what biological/emotional/social factors might be causing John’s headaches? Any lifestyle factors?
2. After reviewing the module materials, what expectations would you have in terms of how John might address his headache symptoms?
3. Now that you have read the materials and watched the videos, reconsider how you completed John’s story. Are there any ways in which you or your classmates might have reflected stereotypes regarding men’s health? Any assumptions you made that may reflect a bias in what might be causing John’s headaches or how he might respond? What stereotypes did you consciously avoid in attempting to tell John’s story?
4. Identify one new piece of information you learned this week.
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Required:
Garfield, C. F., Isacco, A., & Rogers, T. E. (2008). A review of men’s health and masculinity.
(Links to an external site.)
American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 2(6), 474. doi:10.1177/1559827608323213
Kavanagh, S. A., Shelley, J. M., & Stevenson, C. (2018). Is gender inequity a risk factor for men reporting poorer self-rated health in the United States?
(Links to an external site.)
Plos ONE, 13(7), 1. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0200332
Neukrug, E., Britton, B. S., & Crews, R. C. (2013). Common health-related concerns of men: implications for counselors
(Links to an external site.)
. Journal of Counseling & Development, 91(4), 390-397.
Simon, H. B. (2014). The metabolic syndrome: A menace to men’s health
(Links to an external site.)
. In Harvard Health Publications (Ed.), Harvard Medical School commentaries on health. Boston, MA: Harvard Health Publications.
Stahl, S., & Schulz, R. (2014). The effect of widowhood on husbands’ and wives’ physical activity: the cardiovascular health study
(Links to an external site.)
. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 37(4), 806. doi:10.1007/s10865-013-9532-7
Watson, J. (2014). Young African American Males: Barriers to Access to Health Care
(Links to an external site.)
. Journal of Human Behavior In The Social Environment, 24(8), 1004-1009. doi:10.1080/10911359.2014.953416.
Module Notes: Men’s Health
View:
Required: [approx 1 hr 8 min total viewing time]
Drive for Men’s Health
(Links to an external site.)
(02 min)
Kaplan, B. (2018) Why Are Men so Scared of the Doctor?
(Links to an external site.)
(08 min)
Men’s Health
(Links to an external site.)
(58 mins)
Review:
Required:
Guidelines for Final Paper [PDF file size 20 KB]
Conduct an Interview – Male Identified Individual
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In this module we will focus on Men’s health from a range of perspectives. As we did in our exploration of women’s health, we begin by understanding the unique biology of men. This includes the male hormones, especially testosterone, which affects the physical and behavioral health of men. It is important that we look at the conditions that are unique to men, including prostate cancer, as well as conditions that have been more pronounced among men, including heart disease and lung cancer.
Men face unique health concerns related to their sex, just as women do. One of the unique factors in men’s health is the male hormone, testosterone. Testosterone affects men’s health in a variety of ways.
The physical consequences of testosterone also impact men from a behavioral perspective, from aggressive behavior during youth to loss of energy, and conditions like depression, during the later years.
Men have traditionally had more accidents on the job, though they are also over-represented in jobs that require physical labor, such as construction. Traffic violation trends reflect the fact that men tend to be greater risk takers resulting in more accidental injury and death. Testosterone most likely plays a role in risk-taking among men.
According to Dr. Pawlowski, Anthropologist… Sexual selection theory predicts that males will tend to behave in ways that are more risky than females. We explored this in humans by studying two everyday situations (catching a bus and crossing a busy road). We show that humans are competent optimizers on such tasks, adjusting their arrival times at a bus stop so as to minimize waiting time. Nonetheless, single males pursue a more risky strategy than single females by cutting waiting times much finer. Males are also more likely than females to cross busy roads when it is risky to do so. More importantly, males are more likely to initiate a crossing in high risk conditions when there are females present in the immediate vicinity, but females do not show a comparable effect in relation to the number of males present. These results support the suggestion that risk-taking is a form of “showing off” used as mate advertisement. – Abstract from “Sex Differences in Everyday Risk-Taking Behavior in Humans
(Links to an external site.)
” .
Over the years, as the level of testosterone declines, men are affected in a variety of ways. They may experience a decline in energy. They may experience loss of bone mass, as well as weight gain. Sex drive declines and erectile dysfunction is more likely to occur. According to the National Institute of Aging, “Low serum testosterone may contribute to a number of problems affecting older men, including decreased ability to walk, loss of muscle mass and strength, decreased vitality, decreased sexual function, impaired cognition, cardiovascular disease and anemia.”
We also need to consider the issue of life expectancy. Historically men do not live as long as women. This may be related to factors that include higher rates of alcoholism, poor diet, lack of exercise, and how men experience psychological stress (also related to testosterone). The evolutionary development of menopause provides women with a means for increasing their longevity. However this alone does not explain the gender gap for longevity. Cromie (1998), in his article about the longevity gender gap describes additional advantages for women, including; women live longer with illness whereas men succumb to illness, the riskier male behaviors in the age range of 15 to 24 as we’ve already mentioned, improved health care around childbirth, estrogen (female hormone) lowers harmful cholesterol and raises ‘good’ cholesterol, natural selection of women with genetic longevity, and so forth.
The longevity gender gap is beginning to close. One example given by Perls and Fretts in Cromie’s article is lung cancer deaths. “Smoking,” Perls and Fretts conclude, “seems to be the ‘great equalizer.'”
Aging Differences Between the Sexes: Stress and Life Expectancy.
(Links to an external site.)
[Video file] [02 min 49 sec] – click on link to begin video.
Here’s a question to consider when we discuss men’s health: Why won’t men go to the doctor? While this is a stereotype, research findings that also support the tendency among men to not take care of their health as well as women. Does that stereotype of the “strong, silent type” as the male ideal persist?
We’ll be exploring, and discussing, how men are doing in taking responsibility for their health.
REMINDER: The report on your female interview is also due at the end of this module.
After reading the materials and viewing the videos for this module, we will have a discussion that will provide you with the opportunity to consider your own perceptions of men’s health.
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