Masculinities and engaging older men at seniors’ centres through social marketing

Abstract

Older men are at risk for social isolation, which poses significant risks to their psychosocial health. Seniors’ centres offer opportunities for social support networks; however, older men attend far less than women. Social marketing is established as creating voluntary behaviour changes in men. Through qualitative interviews and focus groups, the current study aimed to describe the values, beliefs, and motivations older men have relevant to using seniors’ centres, with an end goal to make recommendations for targeted social marketing campaigns. Qualitative content analysis was used to develop the results, which illustrated that older men value competency and contribution and were motivated by their own interests. Results outlined how social marketing can employ general campaign characteristics, framing, and the marketing mix to target older men while altering negative perceptions of seniors’ centres. Strategies to increase engagement of older men at seniors’ centres through social marketing are outlined in this study.