TY - JOUR

T1 - Place and wellbeing

T2 - shedding light on activity interventions for older men

AU - Milligan, Christine

AU - Payne, Sheila

AU - Bingley, Amanda

AU - Cockshott, Zoe

PY - 2015/1

Y1 - 2015/1

N2 - In the UK, one in five of the population is an older man, many of whom live alone. Loneliness and social isolation is a growing issue for many of these older men, one that has been associated with elevated blood pressure, poor physical health, increased mortality and mental ill-health, including depression, suicide and dementia. Social isolation thus presents new challenges for the physical and mental wellbeing of older men. This is not unique to the UK. Yet whilst inclusionary social spaces and supportive social ties can be important for enhancing physical and mental wellbeing amongst older people, evidence suggests that lone-dwelling older men can experience greater difficulty in accessing effective social support, relative to older women. Understanding those spaces of communal activity that are likely to be successful in promoting health and wellbeing amongst older men is thus important if we are to improve their quality of life. In this paper, we draw on an evaluation of a 'Men in Sheds' intervention in the UK, to illustrate how everyday spaces within local communities can be designed to both promote and maintain the physical and mental wellbeing of older men. In doing so, we engage with the geographical concept of the therapeutic landscape offering new insights into how Sheds, as created therapeutic landscapes, may offer gendered spaces in which older men can perform their masculinity and which hold real potential for the maintenance of their health and wellbeing.

AB - In the UK, one in five of the population is an older man, many of whom live alone. Loneliness and social isolation is a growing issue for many of these older men, one that has been associated with elevated blood pressure, poor physical health, increased mortality and mental ill-health, including depression, suicide and dementia. Social isolation thus presents new challenges for the physical and mental wellbeing of older men. This is not unique to the UK. Yet whilst inclusionary social spaces and supportive social ties can be important for enhancing physical and mental wellbeing amongst older people, evidence suggests that lone-dwelling older men can experience greater difficulty in accessing effective social support, relative to older women. Understanding those spaces of communal activity that are likely to be successful in promoting health and wellbeing amongst older men is thus important if we are to improve their quality of life. In this paper, we draw on an evaluation of a 'Men in Sheds' intervention in the UK, to illustrate how everyday spaces within local communities can be designed to both promote and maintain the physical and mental wellbeing of older men. In doing so, we engage with the geographical concept of the therapeutic landscape offering new insights into how Sheds, as created therapeutic landscapes, may offer gendered spaces in which older men can perform their masculinity and which hold real potential for the maintenance of their health and wellbeing.

KW - older men

KW - Sheds

KW - therapeutic landscapes

KW - health and wellbeing

U2 - 10.1017/S0144686X13000494

DO - 10.1017/S0144686X13000494

M3 - Journal article

VL - 35

SP - 124

EP - 149

JO - Ageing and Society

JF - Ageing and Society

SN - 0144-686X

IS - 1

ER -