Men’s health: a commentary

ENGAGING MEN in health care can be a challenge for clinicians. Engaging men in research exploring their experiences of health care, especially when there are particular sensitivities in the health issues being investigated, creates additional challenges, which too few researchers appear willing to address. The ethical principle of ‘justice’ dictates that researchers be fair to research participants and integral to this principle is the idea that there are no groups in society who cannot be involved in research. Sometimes that research might be complex and time-consuming but not undertaking research in such challenging groups risks creating an inequality in healthcare provision if there is a dearth of research evidence. Our two themed papers describe and reflect on the researchers’ experiences of undertaking qualitative research with men experiencing particularly sensitive health concerns.