title: Gender awareness among Veterans Administration health-care workers: existing strengths and areas for improvement.
abstract: In response to the growing number of women within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), along with the challenge of meeting their health-care needs in a historically male-focused setting, VHA has supported a variety of research projects aimed at evaluating and improving the status of women's health and health-care experiences. While these efforts have primarily focused on aspects of care such as the availability and accessibility of services and the provision of timely care, this study focused on the contribution of interpersonal aspects of care. Specifically, staff gender awareness, conceptualized as health-care workers' gender-role ideology or attitudes, gender sensitivity, and knowledge was examined. Findings revealed both strengths and weaknesses in domains of staff gender awareness and significant relationships between staff demographics and gender awareness components.
authors.affiliation: National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, VA Boston Healthcare System, and Boston University School of Medicine, MA 02130, USA. vogt.dawne@boston.va.gov
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Vogt
authors.forename: E R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Stone
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Salgado
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: V W
authors.initials: VW
authors.lastname: Savarese
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008875:Middle Aged; D009511:New England; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016387:Women's Health; D000078329:Workforce