Farrar, Eugene ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-8576-6157 and Shepherd, Gary ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8178-1141 (2026) Men's Mental Health in Rural Locations and Industries: An International Scoping Review of Barriers, Service Connection, and Community Support. Health & Social Care in the Community. (Submitted)

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Abstract

Aim
To map the international evidence on the barriers rural men face when seeking mental health support, how services connect with them, and the informal, non-clinical support they use.

Design
A scoping review synthesising original qualitative, mixed-methods, and review-level findings thematically and through the PAGER framework, following Arksey and O'Malley's five-stage framework and PRISMA-ScR conventions.

Data Sources
Five databases: APA PsycARTICLES, APA PsycInfo, CINAHL, SocINDEX, and Google Scholar, searched between February and June 2026 with no restriction on publication date.

Review Methods
Searches were mapped across eligible studies reporting findings on adult men in rural, remote, or non-urban populations and industries, disaggregated by sex and geography, focusing on mental health barriers, service engagement, or community connection.

Results
Thirty-six studies across Australia, the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom met inclusion criteria. Help-seeking barriers were interactional: near-universal masculine stoicism and stigma combined with structural constraints like service scarcity, distance, and loss of anonymity. Services connected successfully using practical, activity-based framing rather than clinical branding, alongside cultural attunement to rural and occupational life. Informal support functioned primarily through belonging, shared identity, and opportunities to contribute rather than just receive.

Conclusions
Rural men's mental health provision is most effective when built around trusted community settings and practitioner credibility rather than clinically branded services. Existing research remains heavily focused on farming populations within the Anglosphere.

Implications for Health and Social Care Practice
Service providers should shift away from traditional, clinically branded provision toward practical, activity-based engagements embedded in trusted rural and occupational settings. Future research and policy must expand beyond farming and the Anglosphere to address marginalized populations of rural men.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	Submitted
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology > BF637 Counselling
School/Department:	School of Education, Language and Psychology
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/15752

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