The influence of patient gender on medical and psychology students' illness attributions: Experiences with a narrative technique

Ilona Csörsz, Péter Kakuk, Eszter M. Mills, Péter Molnár, János Máth, Márta Csabai

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

We attempted to identify whether and how the gender of the patient influences interpretations of an illness narrative. We investigated how medical and psychology undergraduates' (n = 313) views change according to the patient's gender, students' gender, and field of study. A short story about a female patient was chosen as stimulus material, and a gender-modified version with a male protagonist was created for comparison. Responses were content analyzed by qualitative and quantitative methods. The female patient elicited more detailed descriptions and somatizing attributions. The gender of students had a stronger impact on responses than their field of study.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)642-652
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Health Psychology
Volume19
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • future professionals
  • gender stereotype
  • illness narrative
  • somatization
  • symptom interpretation

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