‘I never wanted my children to see their father the way I’ve seen mine’: caring masculinities and fathering on the Prairies

ABSTRACT

In this article, we draw together literature on rural masculinities, fatherhood, and mental health to explore how men experiencing mental health problems understand fatherhood. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 24 men who reside in rural southern Manitoba with a focus on mental health and wellness, perceptions of masculinity, support and living well. In this study, it became apparent that fatherhood was a theme that many of the participants reflected on in response to our questions about their mental health and wellness. It is notable that fatherhood emerged as a key theme related to mental health for those men who had children. This article examines how these men spoke about fatherhood and specifically, how they struggled to negotiate alternative masculinities when working with their fathers, their experiences of aggression, desires to be a better father that their father, and their reflections on changing practices. We argue that fathering can provide a transformative space and hopeful practice for rural men experiencing mental health and emotional distress. In doing so, our paper contributes to research on changing masculinities and the consequences for challenging normative masculinities in rural space.

KEYWORDS:

• Caring masculinity
• rural
• mental health and wellness
• father

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the participants in the research project for their time and stories as well as Margaret de Jager and Madeleine Kruth for their support with data collection, transcription and analysis. This research was funded by SSHRC and the Canada Research Chairs program.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [grant number 430-2018-00320].

Notes on contributors

Jonathan A. Allan

Dr. Jonathan A. Allan is Canada Research Chair in Men and Masculinities and Professor at Brandon University. He is the author of Men, Masculinities, and Popular Romance (Routledge, 2020) and the forthcoming, Men, Masculinities, and Infertilities.

Rachel V. Herron

Dr. Rachel V. Herron is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environment at Brandon University, a Tier II CRC in Rural and Remote Mental Health, and founding Director of the Centre for Critical Studies of Rural Mental Health.

Mairo E. Ahmadu

Mairo E. Ahmadu is a graduate of Brandon University where she majored in Psychology. Prior to graduating, she started working and conducting collaborative research at the Rural Community Health Lab at Brandon University and consequently, supporting research at the Center for Critical Studies of Rural Mental Health. Her interest in rural mental health research began after she actively volunteered at the Manitoba Farm and Rural Northern Support Services as a volunteer Crisis and Suicide Counsellor. Her research interests are mental health services and use, stigma reduction around mental health in minority groups. Currently working at a Community Health Co-op, Mairo is working on furthering her education to become a Counselling Psychologist.

Candice Waddell

Candice Waddell is a Registered Psychiatric Nurse and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatric Nursing at Brandon University. Her research includes improving health care practice and systems through the lens of feminist, anti-racist, anti-homophobic and decolonizing approaches; and understanding the perspectives of individuals living with histories of mental illness and trauma.

Kerstin Roger

Kerstin Roger, PhD. (Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba). Research focusses on chronic illness, aging, caregiving, and the family. Dr. Roger has been a Principal Investigator on multi-site nationally funded research (e.g. PHAC, SSHRC, Movember, federal government), as well as conducting provincial and regionally funded research. She has worked on international collaborations, local not-for-profit community initiatives, and continues to co-author and engage graduate students in her research.