'Health is their heart, their legs, their back': Understanding ageing well in ethnically diverse older men in rural Australia

Older men from ethnic minority communities living in a regional town in Australia were identified by a government-funded peak advocacy body as failing to access local health and support services and, more broadly, being at risk of not ageing well. A qualitative study was undertaken to explore the health and wellbeing of ethnic minority men growing older in a rural community, and to identify the barriers they faced in accessing appropriate services from a range of different perspectives. Individual interviews were conducted with key informants (service providers and community leaders), followed by focus groups with older men from four ethnic minority communities. The men in this study showed signs that they were at risk of poor mental and physical health, and experienced significant barriers to accessing health and support services. Furthermore, environmental, technological, social and economic changes have brought challenges for the older men as they age. Despite these challenges, this study demonstrated how work, family and ethnic identity was integral to the lives of these older men, and was, in many ways, a resource. Key informants perspectives mostly confirmed the experiences of the older men in this study. The discrepancies in their views about the extent of health-promoting behaviour indicate some key areas for future health intervention, services and research.