Firearm owning men appear hesitant to access mental health services in Canada. This is
an issue as firearm related deaths are overwhelmingly caused by male suicide and by men killing
their domestic partners. Encouraging access to services may limit the number of these deaths.
However, no research has been undertaken directly asking men about their experiences in
seeking out mental health treatment.
This research is aimed to understand what firearm owning men experience when seeking
out mental health treatment. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into why men may be
hesitant to access services, and to consider what approaches may encourage them to access
services.
This research was limited to the geographical area of Northern BC. This study also may
not have been able to connect with men who felt the most hesitancy due to their reluctance to
engage with myself due to his professional affiliation.
This thesis used primary and secondary data. The primary data was collected via semistructure qualitative interviews done with six firearm owning men living in Northern British
Columbia. The secondary data was from a variety of sources obtained via relevant literature,
academic databases, government publications, and online sources. The thesis was an exploratory
qualitative study using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis.
This research suggests that men value their firearms for extrinsic and intrinsic reasons.
The majority of men had some hesitancy towards accessing services, with the major obstacle
being concern over losing their firearms and how this would impact their lives. Suggestions to
increase the likelihood of men accessing treatment are aimed at general practitioners and
legislators with special emphasis on the government developing clearer processes.
