Abstract
To what extent do gender and culture impact people’s attitudes towards help-seeking? It has been well documented that gender plays a large role in determining the likelihood that an individual will look to external agencies in order to remedy issues of physical or mental health and that women tend to have more positive attitudes towards help-seeking than do men. However, this paper looks to investigate the intersection between gender and culture to understand the impact that different societies have on the formation and maintenance of attitudes towards help-seeking. In order to do this, this study utilised thematic analysis to highlight the attitudes of 3 Muslim Arab men, aged 24 - 32, in the United Arab Emirates, towards issues of mental illness and physical injury (as both are often temporary and treatable). Although much of the findings of this study were consistent with previous studies using Western participants, there were also cultural repertoires utilised which suggested that social stigma and cultural practices may further impact men’s tendency to seek help from external agencies. Recognition of these differences may impact upon the promotion and delivery of healthcare in Arab countries by suggesting that providing Western treatments to Arab men, particularly for mental illness, is unlikely to be effective without cultural-specific adaptations.
Highlights
A recent World Health Organization (WHO) review of mental health claimed that men and women have notably different attitudes towards help-seeking for issues of mental health (Gough and Novikova, 2020)
Cultural differences were frequently mentioned by participants in this study, creating a dichotomy between the ways in which “Arabs” handle their mental health issues and the ways in which “Western people” deal with theirs
The data from this study suggest a strong intersectionality with cultural practices resulting in attitudes and subsequent behaviours towards help-seeking, which was predicted by the report (Gough and Novikova, 2020)
Summary
A recent World Health Organization (WHO) review of mental health claimed that men and women have notably different attitudes towards help-seeking for issues of mental health (Gough and Novikova, 2020). In addition to biological differences, there appear to be societal pressures and gender norms which encourage men to embody a healthy-masculine identity This masculinity has at times been demonstrated to have a negative impact upon health. In the United States, for example, men are more likely than women to die from such things as cancer and heart attacks and in general suffer more chronic illness during their lifetime (Courtenay, 2000). One explanation for this is men’s negative attitude towards help-seeking, which is demonstrated by the inverse-correlation between men’s scores on the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI) and their attitudes towards help-seeking. In addition to negative attitudes towards help-seeking, it has been found that men who scored highly on the CMNI tended to demonstrate numerous physical and mental issues such as increased blood pressure, anger, and depression as a result of “gender role stress” (Gerdes and Levant, 2018)
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