Shedding Our Troubles: A realist investigation into a Men’s Shed – a community space for men

This thesis is concerned with how a health and wellbeing focused Men’s Shed impacts upon men’s wellbeing. Men’s Sheds are safe, community settings where men can come together for activities and socialisation. The relatively small amount of academic literature has to date mainly focussed on Men’s Sheds in Australia incorporating utilitarian activities. There was no literature found for this review on Men’s Sheds which primarily focus on wellbeing.

The complexities and determinants of men’s health and issues around masculinity are discussed followed by the introduction of a framework for understanding wellbeing, the Human Givens (Griffin and Tyrrell, 2013). An appraisal of the Men’s Sheds literature informs the method chosen to carry out the empirical research, proposing the approach of realism and the Human Givens as programme theories to explain how improvements occur in Shed member’s wellbeing.

This research analyses accounts of men who regularly participate in a Men’s Shed in the Republic of Ireland which has a primary wellbeing, rather than utilitarian, focus. The mechanisms responsible for facilitating the fulfilment of the men’s Human Givens fall under two main themes within the social environment of the Men’s Shed.

The thesis concludes that the social environment of this Men’s Shed help to counteract some of the health inequalities experienced by men. A brief discussion then reveals potential implications of this research for future policy and practice, and its potential for further research.