Do women seeking care from obstetrician-gynaecologists prefer to see a female or a male doctor?
OBJECTIVE
To examine whether women seeking care from obstetrician-gynaecologists prefer to see a female or a male doctor or have no preference.


METHODS
Five hundred consecutive women attending gynaecology and antenatal clinics were asked to complete a survey questionnaire containing 12 items requiring opinion on whether they want to be seen by a female or male obstetrician-gynaecologist or have no preference. It also contained questions regarding their reasons for the stated preference.


RESULTS
Of the consecutive 500 patients that were given the questionnaire, 435 responded (87% response rate). Two hundred and twenty-five patients had no preference, 194 patients preferred female obstetrician-gynaecologist and 16 patients preferred male obstetrician-gynaecologist. The reasons stated by women who preferred to see a female doctor were as follows: religious beliefs-5%, understands problems better-48%, unspecified reasons-6%, issues of personal modesty-41%. All 16 women who preferred to see a male doctor stated the reason as 'understands problems better' (100%).


CONCLUSIONS
The majority of women expressed no preference to either gender of their obstetrician and gynaecologists, but significant proportion of the remainder would prefer to see a female doctor when given the choice. Although women gave a variety of subjective reasons for this, demographically it appears that women who are less educated with lower income and being non-white are more likely to prefer to see a female doctor.
Makam
Adinarayana
A
Nevill Hall Hospital, Abergavenny, UK.
Mallappa Saroja
Channamallikarjuna Swamy
CS
Edwards
Gareth
G
D000328:Adult; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D006176:Gynecology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009774:Obstetrics; D057240:Patient Preference; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012737:Sex Factors; D006113:United Kingdom; D055815:Young Adult