Masculinity, Identity and Ageing: Perspectives from Men Living in Care

Objectives: This study identifies and explores barriers and facilitators of social engagement for male tenants living in care settings for the ageing, encompassing both service user and service provider perspectives.

Design: A qualitative framework was adopted to understand factors affecting male social engagement from multi-stakeholder perspectives in Wales-based extra-care schemes. Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA; Braun & Clarke, 2021) was implemented through an essentialist semantic approach to capture the truth and reality expressed within the dataset at an explicit level.

Methods: This study was undertaken with a Wales-based social housing provider. Six male tenants and five scheme managers were recruited across four extra-care schemes through typical-case purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in person and remotely. All interviews were recorded and transcribed through Microsoft Teams.

Results: Group membership and family support were key themes identified as facilitators of male social engagement while barriers were poor health, hegemonic masculinity, social identity and widowhood. The findings should be considered for men across the life span to cultivate social support networks in older age to buffer the risks and detrimental outcomes of social isolation for men living in care.

Conclusions: A limitation to this study is that no scheme manager participants were male. Future studies should aim to include a broader participant sample including carers and male staff to offer a wider multi-stakeholder perspective. The facilitation of male-oriented community links and peer support groups would be a valuable addition to extra-care schemes to support male tenants most vulnerable to social isolation.