A thesis examining compassion and help-seeking in men/gay men: Systematic review, meta-analysis, and randomised controlled trial

Abstract

Compassion and compassion-related training have frequently been linked to better well-being and psychological outcomes in different populations. However, compassion has been largely understudied in the field of male psychology. The first chapter of this thesis details a systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies that investigated the relationship between self-compassion (SC) and aspects of help-seeking in men. Data was collected from four databases and seven studies, with a total of 2,210 male participants, met inclusion criteria and were included in a narrative synthesis. Meta-analyses found that there was a statistically significant positive correlation between SC and overall help-seeking, with SC associated with lower self-stigma of seeking help and more favourable attitudes towards help-seeking among men.
The second chapter is an empirical paper on the impact of a 14-day Compassionate Mind Training (CMT) on different psychological outcomes in adult gay men. The study used a randomised waitlist-controlled experimental design over three time points and did not find significant between- or within-subjects differences. Although the study suffered from an underpowered sample size at the post- and follow-up stages, baseline analyses revealed a significant positive correlation between conformity to masculine norms and blocks to compassion (shame, self-criticism, internalised homophobia), and showed that both SC and compassion from others predicted help-seeking intentions. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

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ORCID for Alison Bennetts: orcid.org/0000-0003-2461-7868

ORCID for Alison Bennetts: orcid.org/0000-0003-2461-7868

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