Effects of patient and physician gender on the assessment of a medical complaint

• Main Author: Santos, Emmylou C.
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholarly Commons 2003
• Subjects: Social psychology; Health care; Surgery; Behavioral sciences; Gender; Complaints; Physicians; Health and environmental sciences; Psychology
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/2725; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3724&context=uop_etds

This study investigated the effects of gender, both patient and physician, on how a medical complaint is perceived and acted upon by health professionals. A 2 x 2 factorial design was used, with gender of physician and patient as the two factors, respectively. The participants were physicians (M.D.s) who were recruited by approaching local hospitals/clinics and requesting their participation in the research. They were asked to respond to a patient vignette and a questionnaire assessing the physician's beliefs about and intentions toward the patient. Using a 2 x 2 ANOVA with a specified .05 significance level, no statistically significant differences were found in the assessment of the perceived seriousness of a medical complaint, in the aggressiveness of the work-up provided, and in the diagnoses given to patients. The findings from this study are of value in exploring the existence of gender bias in the medical setting. The absence of gender bias, as it occurred in this study, is an encouraging finding for members of the health care community.