Sex-role stereotyping in health care: perceptions of physical therapists.
Eighty-nine physical therapists reported their observations and perceptions on six dimensions of sex-role stereotyping of women, either as patients or as providers of health care. Three dimensions focused on negative attitudes or beliefs about women as patients: female behavior, female physiology, and need for different standards of health care for men and women. The other three dimensions focused on women as health care providers: sex-role conflicts, male-dominant female-subordinate role play, and capacity for leadership. A significant majority of the participants did not believe that female patients are often stereotyped. They also disputed the belief that female health workers are viewed as sex objects, are passive in making recommendations, and are more limited in their effectiveness in leadership and in professional growth than are their male counterparts. They did perceive that female health workers experience certain career conflicts. We concluded that the respondents could not, or were unwilling to, attest to the dilemmas of female clients and providers in health care as claimed in recent literature.
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002322:Career Mobility; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007062:Identification, Psychological; D008297:Male; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D013240:Stereotyping