TY - JOUR
T1 - Healthy Eating and Active Living
T2 - Rural-Based Working Men’s Perspectives
AU - Oliffe, John L.
AU - Bottorff, Joan L.
AU - Sharp, Paul
AU - Caperchione, Cristina M.
AU - Johnson, Steven T.
AU - Healy, Theresa
AU - Lamont, Sonia
AU - Jones-Bricker, Margaret
AU - Medhurst, Kerensa
AU - Errey, Sally
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, © The Author(s) 2015.
PY - 2017/11/1
Y1 - 2017/11/1
N2 - There is a pressing need for health promotion programs focused on increasing healthy eating and active living among “unreached” rural-based men. The purpose of the current study was to describe rural-based working men’s views about health to distil acceptable workplace approaches to promoting men’s healthy lifestyles. Two focus group interviews included 21 men who worked and lived in northern British Columbia, Canada. Interviews were approximately 2 hours in duration; data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Themes inductively derived included (a) food as quick filling fuels, (b) work strength and recreational exercise, and (c) (re)working masculine health norms. Participants positioned foods as quick filling fuels both at work and home as reflecting time constraints and the need to bolster energy levels. In the theme work strength and recreational exercise, men highlighted the physical labor demands pointing to the need to be resilient in overcoming the subarctic climate and/or work fatigue in order to fit in exercise. In the context of workplace health promotion programs for men, participants advised how clear messaging and linkages between health and work performance and productivity and cultivating friendly competition among male employees were central to reworking, as well as working, with established masculine health norms. Overall, the study findings indicate that the workplace can be an important means to reaching men in rural communities and promoting healthy eating and active living. That said, the development of workplace programs should be guided by strength-based masculine virtues and values that proactively embrace work and family life.
AB - There is a pressing need for health promotion programs focused on increasing healthy eating and active living among “unreached” rural-based men. The purpose of the current study was to describe rural-based working men’s views about health to distil acceptable workplace approaches to promoting men’s healthy lifestyles. Two focus group interviews included 21 men who worked and lived in northern British Columbia, Canada. Interviews were approximately 2 hours in duration; data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Themes inductively derived included (a) food as quick filling fuels, (b) work strength and recreational exercise, and (c) (re)working masculine health norms. Participants positioned foods as quick filling fuels both at work and home as reflecting time constraints and the need to bolster energy levels. In the theme work strength and recreational exercise, men highlighted the physical labor demands pointing to the need to be resilient in overcoming the subarctic climate and/or work fatigue in order to fit in exercise. In the context of workplace health promotion programs for men, participants advised how clear messaging and linkages between health and work performance and productivity and cultivating friendly competition among male employees were central to reworking, as well as working, with established masculine health norms. Overall, the study findings indicate that the workplace can be an important means to reaching men in rural communities and promoting healthy eating and active living. That said, the development of workplace programs should be guided by strength-based masculine virtues and values that proactively embrace work and family life.
KW - health promotion
KW - healthy eating
KW - masculinity
KW - men’s health
KW - physical activity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85032495277&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1557988315619372
DO - 10.1177/1557988315619372
M3 - Journal Article
C2 - 26669775
AN - SCOPUS:85032495277
SN - 1557-9883
VL - 11
SP - 1664
EP - 1672
JO - American Journal of Men's Health
JF - American Journal of Men's Health
IS - 6
ER -