'What a dog will see and kill, a cat will see and ignore it': An exploration of health-related help-seeking among older Ghanaian men residing in Ghana and the United Kingdom.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Health care utilization rates are lower among men; however, little is known about how men's health care utilization is affected by migration. The aim of this study was to explore health-related help-seeking decisions among older Ghanaian men residing in the United Kingdom and in Ghana. METHODS: Twenty-six men aged 50 years or over were recruited from community locations within two large cities in the UK and Ghana. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were undertaken to explore the illness and help-seeking experiences of older men. RESULTS: Help-seeking experiences differed among the Ghanaian men living in the UK and in Ghana. Three themes were identified that impacted on help-seeking decisions (1) pluralistic approaches to managing health and illness and (2) perceptions of formal health services in Ghana and UK and (3) financial constraints and masculinity norms as barriers to help-seeking. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to look at help-seeking decisions among older men residing in the UK and Ghana. Findings highlight how older migrant men's explanatory models of their health encompass enduring faith-based beliefs around causation of illness and approaches to management, as well as the use of pluralistic approaches to managing health. This study supports the call for culturally sensitive community-based interventions to increase engagement and facilitate improved health outcomes for migrant populations, particularly older men.