Men's mental health in the COVID-19 pandemic: is there a mobilization of masculinities?

ABSTRACT Objective: to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic mobilizes masculinities in relation to mental health. Methods: qualitative study conducted with 400 men, in a virtual environment, in all regions of Brazil. The data were analyzed by the Discourse of the Collective Subject and based on Symbolic Interactionism. Results: the mobilization of masculinities emerged from men towards the recognition of weaknesses and psycho-emotional vulnerabilities, with narratives that reveal the expression of feelings, pain, discomfort and psychological suffering, and showed themselves to be sensitive and engaged in performing practices, including autonomous ones, of health care mental. Final considerations: the pandemic mobilizes masculinities as men print meanings and senses, in their interaction and interpretation of mental health, and is a marker for the nursing clinic conduct.