Peer support as a resilience building practice with men

Purpose: This paper presents findings from an evaluation of a mental health resilience intervention for unemployed men aged 45-60. The paper examines the place of facilitated peer support within a men’s mental health programme, and explores implications for resilience building approaches for men. Design: The paper draws on before and after survey data and qualitative interviews, to report results concerning effectiveness in changing men’s perceived resilience, to consider project processes concerning peer support, and to situate these within wider environments. Findings: The programme significantly raised the perceived resilience of participants. Project activities promoted trusting informal social connections, gains in social capital arose through trusting relations and skill-sharing, and peer-peer action-focused talk enhanced resilience. Practical and social implications: The paper discusses gender-sensitive approaches to engage men and build resilience by focusing on doing and talking and peer support, and highlights the need to consolidate gains with a focus on individual and community resilience. Originality/value: The paper adds fresh evidence of gendered intervention approaches with a specific focus on facilitated peer support, including effects on male resilience.

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/...