The impact of gender stereotypes on the evaluation of general practitioners' communication skills: an experimental study using transcripts of physician-patient encounters.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The present study has been designed to test for the effect of physicians' gender on the perception and assessment of empathic communication in medical encounters. METHODS: Eighty-eight volunteers were asked to assess six transcribed interactions between physicians and a standardized patient. The effects of physicians' gender were tested by the experimental manipulation of physicians' gender labels in transcripts. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two testing conditions: (1) perceived gender corresponds to the physician's true gender; (2) perceived gender differs from the physician's true gender. Empathic communication was assessed using the Rating Scales for the Assessment of Empathic Communication in Medical Interviews. RESULTS: A 2 (physician's true gender: female vs. male)x2 (physician's perceived gender: female vs. male)x2 (rater's gender: female vs. male) mixed multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) yielded a main effect for physician's true gender. Female physicians were rated higher on empathic communication than male physicians irrespective of any gender labels. CONCLUSION: The present findings suggest that gender differences in the perception of physician's empathy are not merely a function of the gender label. These findings provide evidence for differences in male and female physicians' empathic communication that cannot be attributed to stereotype bias. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Future efforts to evaluate communication skills training for general practitioners may consider gender differences.