TY - JOUR
T1 - Perceptions of Gender Stereotypes among Women Residents in Surgical and Nonsurgical Specialties
AU - Soares, Andrea
AU - Fink, Angela
AU - Salles, Arghavan
AU - Lee, Koeun
AU - Zhong, Lydia
AU - Bhayani, Rakhee K.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
PY - 2023/6/1
Y1 - 2023/6/1
N2 - Objective The objective of this study was to determine whether and to what degree residents experience stereotype perception by gender and specialty type (surgical vs nonsurgical). Methods A cross-sectional survey was sent to resident physicians across all specialties at a single academic institution in February 2021. The survey items asked whether participants believe residents, faculty, and the public expect men or women to be better physicians on a numerical scale from 1 to 7. A χ2 test compared the calculated mean and standard error for each survey item. This study took place at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, a large academic tertiary care center. Results A total of 411 (46% of total) residents participated; 13 were excluded because of nonbinary gender or missing demographic information, for a final sample of 398. Participants perceived all three groups to expect men to be better physicians than women. Regression analysis showed a significant effect of gender on stereotype perception, with women reporting stronger stereotype perceptions than men. There were no significant differences in stereotype perceptions by specialty type. Conclusions Women resident physicians in both surgical and nonsurgical fields reported higher levels of gender stereotype perception compared with men, making it imperative that graduate medical education leadership support changes to the current learning environment.
AB - Objective The objective of this study was to determine whether and to what degree residents experience stereotype perception by gender and specialty type (surgical vs nonsurgical). Methods A cross-sectional survey was sent to resident physicians across all specialties at a single academic institution in February 2021. The survey items asked whether participants believe residents, faculty, and the public expect men or women to be better physicians on a numerical scale from 1 to 7. A χ2 test compared the calculated mean and standard error for each survey item. This study took place at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, a large academic tertiary care center. Results A total of 411 (46% of total) residents participated; 13 were excluded because of nonbinary gender or missing demographic information, for a final sample of 398. Participants perceived all three groups to expect men to be better physicians than women. Regression analysis showed a significant effect of gender on stereotype perception, with women reporting stronger stereotype perceptions than men. There were no significant differences in stereotype perceptions by specialty type. Conclusions Women resident physicians in both surgical and nonsurgical fields reported higher levels of gender stereotype perception compared with men, making it imperative that graduate medical education leadership support changes to the current learning environment.
KW - gender stereotype
KW - graduate medical education
KW - resident physicians
KW - stereotype perception
KW - women physicians
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85160969164&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.14423/SMJ.0000000000001563
DO - 10.14423/SMJ.0000000000001563
M3 - Article
C2 - 37263613
AN - SCOPUS:85160969164
SN - 0038-4348
VL - 116
SP - 496
EP - 501
JO - Southern medical journal
JF - Southern medical journal
IS - 6
ER -