The effects of gender on diagnosis of psychological disturbance.
This research examines the effect of patient gender on the detection of psychological disturbance. In Study 1, primary-care patients were requested to complete the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), a measure of nonpsychiatric psychological disturbance, prior to their consultation. The patient's GHQ score was compared with physician judgments about the level of disturbance in that patient (N = 1913). Although there were a similar number of GHQ high scorers among males and females, the physicians classified significantly more females than males as disturbed. The doctors classified as disturbed a larger proportion of nondisturbed women than nondisturbed men. In order to explore the behavior of recent medical graduates, Study 2 examined the detection behavior of interns in an outpatient department with 384 of their patients. The interns behaved in a similar manner to the primary-care physicians.
Redman
S
S
Faculty of Medicine, University of Newcastle, N.S.W., Australia.
Webb
G R
GR
Hennrikus
D J
DJ
Gordon
J J
JJ
Sanson-Fisher
R W
RW
D000293:Adolescent; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D010556:Personality Tests; D011320:Primary Health Care; D013240:Stereotyping