Historically, health economic research, especially economic evaluations and health technology assessment, have focused on physical health rather than mental health. This is partly explained by the difficulties in identifying and measuring mental health and its outcomes. A necessary first step before carrying out health economic research, is to describe and understand the size of the problem. Within the economics of mental health, this is a particularly difficult on account of both the invisibility of mental health and the historical stigma that has been associated with it, which has often meant that people don’t talk about their mental health. Although discussion about mental health has been growing over time for both sexes, their remains much to be explored particularly with respect to men’s mental health. Carrying out this exploration is vital if we are to design and implement effective treatments and policies that will have a positive influence on men’s mental health.

Are you a man interested in contributing to research on the subject of men’s mental health?

Trainee Counselling Psychologist Elspeth Quinn (equinn205@caledonian.ac.uk) at Glasgow Caledonian University is currently carrying out some of this exploration. Specifically, she is conducting a research project to investigate how men have experienced all-male social groups while suffering from depression. For this project, she is seeking male volunteers who have experienced depression in the past and would be willing to talk about this in relation to all-male social groups they have been a part of/are still a part of in their lives. This would involve a 45-minute interview at a convenient time via the online platform ‘Zoom’ that will be arranged over the next eight weeks.

For more details about the project please see further information here or contact Elspeth directly.