The impact of gender stereotypes on the evaluation of general practitioners’ communication skills: An experimental study using transcripts of physician–patient encounters

Nicolai, Jennifer; Demmel, Ralf

doi:10.1016/j.pec.2007.08.013

Cited by 46 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…This variation is probably attributable to the socio-cultural differences in communicative styles of peoples of the Caribbean. Nevertheless, females were found to have significantly higher empathy scores than males and this finding is consistent with international studies, 6,8,12 where this dissimilarity is thought to be due to factors such as differences in socialisation, 21 a gender-genetic difference, 22 or a preference of females to self report empathic behaviour. 23 Females far outnumbered males in our study population and this parallels the trend of increasing numbers of females pursuing tertiary education in the Caribbean and internationally.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

A study of empathy decline in students from five health disciplines during their first year of training

Nunes

Williams

et al. 2011

Int. J. Medical Education

264

189

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Objectives: This cross-sectional study examines the selfreported empathy levels of undergraduate students in five different health sciences disciplines before and after one year of training at the St Augustine Campus, University of the West Indies. Methods: Students enrolled into the schools of dentistry, pharmacy, medicine, veterinary medicine and nursing self administered the Jefferson Scale of Empathy on entering their first year of training (n=355). Mean empathy scores were then compared between and among groups to scores on retesting at the end (n=366) of their first year using independent t-tests and one way between groups using ANOVA with planned comparisons. Results: Female students and students older than 27 years were found to be more empathic than male students and those less than 21 years respectively. The highest mean empathy scores on entry to university were noted in nursing and dental students. On repeat testing mean empathy scores declined in all 5 groups, with the declines among medical, nursing and dental students achieving statistical significance. Conclusions: This study shows that the decline in self reported empathy scores starts during the first year of training. Whilst this decline may be partly due to a 'settling in' phenomenon with a change from idealism to realism, students may also be displaying an adaptive response to new responsibilities and an increasing workload. With the current trend of blurred professional boundaries for healthcare providers, empathy is an important skill to be developed by all disciplines. Health educators now need to consider addressing those factors that may check its further decline.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

A study of empathy decline in students from five health disciplines during their first year of training

Nunes

Williams

et al. 2011

Int. J. Medical Education

264

189

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Nicolai and Demmel (2007) and Smith and Dundes (2007) both demonstrated that female physicians were perceived to express more empathy towards their patients than male physicians. This difference in empathy may have been experienced or expected by the participants and therefore translated into their ratings of the physicians as they were cognizant of these differing practice styles.…”

Section: Perceived Level Of Carementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Interestingly, while male doctors are perceived to be more competent than female doctors, female doctors are seen as showing greater empathy and care to patients (Nicolai and Demmel 2007;Smith and Dundes 2007). In addition, Barnsley et al (1999) found that female physicians rated themselves as more empathetic than male physicians, and studies have found that this perception may not be far from the truth.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Credentials: The Effect of Physician Sex and Specialty on How Physicians Are Perceived

Noori¹,

Weseley²

2011

Curr Psychol

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The experiment investigated the effect of physician sex and specialty on participants' perceptions of doctors. Participants (N=206) viewed a physician profile (male/female orthopedic surgeon or male/female dermatologist) and then evaluated the physician on a survey. While male participants reported they would be more willing to see a female physician and believed female physicians would be more caring, female participants reported they would be more willing to see physicians in counter-stereotypical specialties and rated them as more caring. The study suggests that not only do men and women focus on different things in selecting physicians but also that negative stereotypes of female physicians have dramatically decreased.Keywords Physician perceptions . Sex . Medical specialty Although practitioners of medicine in the United States are disproportionately male, there are indications that women will soon outnumber men in several specialties. Surgical specialties are exceptionally male dominated, and this situation is unlikely to change in the coming years. For instance, in 2008, 96% of orthopedic surgeons were male (Natividad and Schmalz 2008). However, there are some specialties to which female physicians have disproportionately been drawn such as dermatology, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, and family medicine (American Medical Association 2005). In these fields, female practitioners are soon likely to outnumber males.Historically, people have viewed female doctors as less competent than male doctors, but recent studies indicate that patients of female physicians express greater satisfaction than patients of male physicians. Research has yet adequately to explore the potential interplay between physician sex and specialty in shaping ideas about physician quality. This study investigated how these factors affect people's perceptions of a doctor's competence, their willingness to see the physician, and how caring a doctor is perceived to be.

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“…More recently, researchers have found that female doctors' communication was rated as more empathic than men. 4 The length of medical consultations has been researched more extensively with regard to differences between male and female doctors, with several studies reporting that women conduct longer consultations than men. 3,5 Differences in consultation length may contribute to apparent differences in the activity rates of male and female doctors, as reported in Canada 6 and in the UK, 7 although these findings do not consider the nature or quality of the consultation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of physicians’ gender on communication and consultation length: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Jefferson

Bloor

Birks

et al. 2013

J Health Serv Res Policy

143

102

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Objective: Physician gender may be a source of differences in communication between physicians and their patients, which may in turn contribute to patient satisfaction and other outcomes. Our aim was to review systematically research on gender differences in the length, style and content of communication with patients. Methods: Seven electronic databases were searched from inception to September 2010 with no language restrictions (included MEDLINE; PsychINFO; EMBASE; CINAHL; Health Management Information Consortium; Web of Science; and ASSIA). 'Grey' literature was also searched. Data extraction and quality assessment was carried out in accordance with Cochrane Collaboration guidelines by at least two reviewers. The review uses mainly narrative synthesis due to the heterogeneous nature of the studies, with only data on consultation length being pooled in a random effects generic inverse variance meta-analysis. Results: Searches yielded 6412 articles, of which 33 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Studies were heterogenous and of mixed quality. Conflicting results are reported for many communication variables. There is some evidence that female physicians adopt a more partnership building style and spend on average 2.24 min longer with patients per consultation (95% CI 0.62-3.86) than their male colleagues. Conclusions: Greater patient engagement by female doctors may reflect a more patient-centred approach, but their longer consultation times will limit the number of consultations they can provide. This has implications for planning and managing services.

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The impact of gender stereotypes on the evaluation of general practitioners’ communication skills: An experimental study using transcripts of physician–patient encounters

Cited by 46 publications

References 46 publications

A study of empathy decline in students from five health disciplines during their first year of training

A study of empathy decline in students from five health disciplines during their first year of training

Beyond Credentials: The Effect of Physician Sex and Specialty on How Physicians Are Perceived

Effect of physicians’ gender on communication and consultation length: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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