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“Doing Gender” in Doctor-patient Interactions: Gender Composition of Doctor-patient Dyads and Communication Patterns

MacArthur, Kelly Rhea
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1216054789

Abstract Details

2008, MA, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Sociology and Criminology.
There are many well documented gender differences in language, but explanations for why they exist vary. Taking a distinctly sociological approach, this thesis uses the “doing gender” framework to analyze gender in interactions. Drawing on past literature on women and men generally and on women and men physicians specifically, this research examines how gender affects doctor-patient communication. Using medical student-standardized patient interactions, several different specific communication behaviors are measured to indicate if women physicians conduct more patient-centered, partnership-building medical encounters and if they have communication skills that are considered to be better than men physicians’. Results show that women physicians do not have medical encounters that indicate greater patient-centered care or greater symmetrical encounters than men physicians do. The results of this study suggest that the influence of patients in forming doctor-patient interactions should not be ignored, as they typically have been in past studies. As with all social interactions, women and men are always “doing gender” in doctor-patient interactions even though diminished gender effects on communication are found here. If gender differences in language were due to essentialist, natural differences between the two sexes, they would be consistent across contexts, which the results of this study show they are not.
Timothy Gallagher, ph.d (Advisor)
Clare Stacey, ph.d (Committee Member)
Susan Roxburgh, ph.d (Committee Member)
92 p.
Sociology
sociology; gender; doctor-patient interactions; doing gender

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • MacArthur, K. R. (2008). “Doing Gender” in Doctor-patient Interactions: Gender Composition of Doctor-patient Dyads and Communication Patterns [Master's thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1216054789

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • MacArthur, Kelly. “Doing Gender” in Doctor-patient Interactions: Gender Composition of Doctor-patient Dyads and Communication Patterns. 2008. Kent State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1216054789.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • MacArthur, Kelly. "“Doing Gender” in Doctor-patient Interactions: Gender Composition of Doctor-patient Dyads and Communication Patterns." Master's thesis, Kent State University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1216054789

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1216054789
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© 2008, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.