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

OBJECTIVE: The present study has been designed to test for the effect of physicians' gender on the perception and assessment of empathic communication in medical encounters. METHODS: Eighty-eight volunteers were asked to assess six transcribed interactions between physicians and a standardized patie...

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Publicado en:Patient Education & Counseling Vol. 69; no. 1-3; pp. 200 - 206
Autores principales: Nicolai J, Demmel R
Formato: research Journal Article
Publicado: Elsevier B.V. Dec2007
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Dec2007
      vid: 69
      iid: 1-3
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      pub: Elsevier B.V.
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        2009742823
        10.1016/j.pec.2007.08.013
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        atl: The impact of gender stereotypes on the evaluation of general practitioners' communication skills: An experimental study using transcripts of physician-patient encounters.
      aug:
        au:
          Nicolai J
          Demmel R
        affil: Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Münster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Münster, Germany.
      sug:
        subj:
          Attitude to Health
          Clinical Competence Standards
          Communication
          Gender Identity
          Physician-Patient Relations
          Stereotyping
          Bias (Research)
          Counseling
          Empathy
          Female
          Germany
          Health Services Needs and Demand
          Male
          Men Psychosocial Factors
          Motivation
          Multivariate Analysis
          Patient Simulation
          Physician's Role
          Physicians, Family Education
          Physicians, Family Psychosocial Factors
          Physicians, Women Psychosocial Factors
          Research, Medical
          Women Psychosocial Factors
          Human
          Female
          Male
      ab: OBJECTIVE: The present study has been designed to test for the effect of physicians' gender on the perception and assessment of empathic communication in medical encounters. METHODS: Eighty-eight volunteers were asked to assess six transcribed interactions between physicians and a standardized patient. The effects of physicians' gender were tested by the experimental manipulation of physicians' gender labels in transcripts. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two testing conditions: (1) perceived gender corresponds to the physician's true gender; (2) perceived gender differs from the physician's true gender. Empathic communication was assessed using the Rating Scales for the Assessment of Empathic Communication in Medical Interviews. RESULTS: A 2 (physician's true gender: female vs. male)x2 (physician's perceived gender: female vs. male)x2 (rater's gender: female vs. male) mixed multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) yielded a main effect for physician's true gender. Female physicians were rated higher on empathic communication than male physicians irrespective of any gender labels. CONCLUSION: The present findings suggest that gender differences in the perception of physician's empathy are not merely a function of the gender label. These findings provide evidence for differences in male and female physicians' empathic communication that cannot be attributed to stereotype bias. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Future efforts to evaluate communication skills training for general practitioners may consider gender differences.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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