“It’s made me feel less isolated because there are other people who are experiencing the same or very similar to you”:Men’s experiences of using mental health support groups

This article explores men's experiences of using peer support groups for coping with mental distress. Support groups are organised groups in which people come together to mutually support each other with a shared health concern. There has been increasing research on men's mental health help seeking, but men's use of support groups for mental health difficulties, and the ways support groups could benefit men, is not well understood. Drawing upon 19 interviews from a South Wales, UK qualitative study which explored men's mental health help seeking, coping and management, this article explores the perceived benefits of support groups for men experiencing emotional difficulties. Findings highlight how men who attended groups valued the sense of shared understanding of experiences and the mutual respect that group settings presented them with. Support groups provided a safe space with opportunities to reconstruct traditional masculine norms through reciprocating unique and tailored mental health support to others and developing a certain role within that group. This gave men a sense of purpose which further facilitated mental health management. Findings also indicated the social benefits that support groups can have to men who may have limited social networks or be experiencing isolation. This article adds to the growing literature that focuses on men's mental health experiences and illustrates the benefits of support groups for men in distress. The author suggests that primary services need to be aware of how support groups can positively support men and promote them as an opportunity for connection and unique support

Loneliness, coping practices and masculinities in later life:Findings from a study of older men living alone in England

While much attention has been given to loneliness as a public health and societal problem less consideration has been given to men's experiences, particularly in later life, and there is a limited evidence based on what works with supporting older men to counteract the impact of loneliness on their mental and social wellbeing. In this paper, we focus on the experiences of older men living alone in the community. Between 2017–2018 72 men residing in England (65–95 years) took part in the study and shared their accounts of experiencing and addressing loneliness on an everyday basis. We generated qualitative data through semi‐structured interviews. Interview data were analysed thematically using the framework analysis approach. We present and discuss findings on the difficulties older men experience in responding to and discussing loneliness and the range of coping practices men applied within their home environments. Three core themes are presented: 1. Maintaining silence around loneliness and distress; 2. Getting on with it versus feeling stuck in loneliness and, 3. Temporary remedies and distractions from loneliness from within the home. Across men's accounts, ‘the home’ is constructed as a space of biographical connections with others as well as a restrictive environment of separation from others. In relation to help‐seeking and efforts to break silence surrounding loneliness, the findings speak to the ways in which masculinities and social expectations attached to male roles complicate older men's varying attempts at help‐seeking and underpin some of their everyday methods of coping with loneliness. The findings reiterate the importance of targeted individual support for older men, particularly for those feeling frozen in loneliness. Facilitators of group‐based support for older men need to recognise the different and potentially conflicting positions older male service users may adopt in relation to help‐seeking that are configured around masculine ideals but in diverging ways

You have to get off your backside, otherwise you'll never get out:Older male carers' experiences of loneliness and social isolation

Loneliness is framed as an enduring problem for carers of all ages, including older carers; however, there is little examination of older men’s experiences of caring, loneliness and social isolation. Based on interviews with 25 men (aged 68–92 years), we discuss findings from a study of older male carers’ experiences of loneliness in England. Within their accounts, loneliness is framed as a future, rather than present, problem as caring provides a time-limited buffer to loneliness while concurrently increasing social isolation. Further, the findings shed light on how male carers seek and benefit from carers’ support groups while also maintaining autonomy

The Impact of Living in Housing With Care and Support on Loneliness and Social Isolation:Findings From a Resident-Based Survey

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Housing with care is often lauded as a way to combat loneliness and social isolation in later life. This study examined whether housing with care created better outcomes for residents in terms of loneliness and social isolation than they might expect if they were living in the community. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A survey was distributed to residents of housing with care as part of the Diversity in Care Environments project. It was designed to enable comparison with the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Propensity score matching was applied to identify the effect of housing with care residence on loneliness and social isolation. RESULTS: People living in housing with care had lower levels of loneliness than would be expected if they lived in the general community, with an average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) of −0.407 (95% CI = −0.601, −0.214). In contrast, social isolation was found to be slightly higher for residents than would be expected if they were in the community (ATT = 0.134 [95% CI = 0.022, 0.247]). Higher social isolation appears driven by less frequent contact with friends and reduced organizational membership rather than any difference in contact with family and children. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Our research has shown a positive impact on subjective social experiences from housing with care residence, despite a slight increase in objective social isolation. The findings underscore the importance of looking at loneliness and social isolation as distinct concepts as well as the effectiveness of housing with care at improving later-life outcomes

Open-label follow-on study evaluating the efficacy, safety, and quality of life with extended daily oral immunotherapy in children with peanut allergy

Background: The benefit of daily administration of Peanut (Arachis hypogaea) Allergen Powder-dnfp (PTAH)-formerly AR101-has been established in clinical trials, but limited data past the first year of treatment are available. This longitudinal analysis aimed to explore the impact of continued PTAH therapeutic maintenance dosing (300 mg/day) on efficacy, safety/tolerability, and food allergy-related quality of life.Methods: We present a subset analysis of PALISADE-ARC004 participants (aged 4-17 years) who received 300 mg PTAH daily for a total of similar to 1.5 (Group A, n = 110) or similar to 2 years (Group B, n = 32). Safety assessments included monitoring the incidence of adverse events (AEs), accidental exposures to food allergens, and adrenaline use. Efficacy was assessed by double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge (DBPCFC); skin prick testing; peanut-specific antibody assays; and Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire (FAQLQ) and Food Allergy Independent Measure (FAIM) scores.Results: Continued maintenance with PTAH increased participants' ability to tolerate peanut protein: 48.1% of completers in Group A (n = 50/104) and 80.8% in Group B (n = 21/26) tolerated 2000 mg peanut protein at exit DBPCFC without dose-limiting symptoms. Immune biomarkers showed a pattern consistent with treatment-induced desensitization. Among PTAH-continuing participants, the overall and treatment-related exposure-adjusted AE rate decreased throughout the intervention period in both groups. Clinically meaningful improvements in FAQLQ and FAIM scores over time suggest a potential link between increased desensitization as determined by the DBPCFC and improved quality of life.Conclusions: These results demonstrate that daily PTAH treatment for peanut allergy beyond 1 year leads to an improved safety/tolerability profile and continued clinical and immunological response

Children overcoming picky eating (COPE) – A cluster randomised controlled trial

Objectives Food neophobia limits dietary variety in children and adults. Interventions to alleviate the impact of neophobia on children's dietary variety have had varying success. The potential effectiveness of mindfulness, a process of bringing awareness to the present moment, has received little attention. This trial aimed to explore the effectiveness of two mindfulness exercises on novel food acceptance for children. Methods A cluster-randomised controlled trial with three trial arms compared the impact of two mindfulness exercises (mindful breathing and mindful raisin-eating) and a non-mindful control task on anticipated liking and intake of a novel fruit. Seventy-one children aged 10–12 years engaged in one of the three tasks at school over five days and were offered a novel fruit at the end of the intervention. Children self-reported mindfulness, food neophobia and anxiety at baseline and follow-up. Results Two mixed-effects models showed that, controlling for school effects and covariates (including mindfulness, food neophobia and anxiety), children in the mindful raisin-eating arm reported greater anticipated liking of a novel fruit and children in both mindfulness arms consumed greater amounts of a novel fruit than children in the control arm. Mixed-design ANOVAs indicated that mindfulness, food neophobia and anxiety did not change over time in each trial arm. Conclusions The results provide promising evidence for the potential effectiveness of mindfulness interventions in encouraging children to try new foods. The mechanisms underlying effectiveness remain unclear and further research, exploring long-term effects and the possibility to generalise these findings to other food groups such as vegetables, is needed