Concordant physician-patient characteristics lose importance for Arab American women and their healthcare- cross-sectional study.
cross_sectional · Level IV
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 35765541.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1016/j.lana.2022.100225 and PMC identifier 9236211.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Arab American women have preferred women physicians of their own culture in the past. The primary aim of this study is to determine the current influence of religion/culture among MENA women and their preferences for physicians of same sex, culture, and religion on the avoidance and uncomfortableness of routine and women's health exams. A cross sectional community survey including religiosity and the importance of physician matched sex, culture, and religion was completed. Outcome measures were avoidance of a routine physical exam, or a women's health exam because of religious/cultural issues; and the uncomfortableness of the women's health exam. Linear regression modeling was used to evaluate the association between outcomes and potential predictors, with significance assessed using a bootstrap method. The responses of 97 MENA women 30-65 years old showed that MENA women agreed that they would avoid routine health exams because of religious/cultural issues if their physician was of the same religion or culture as they were (<i>p</i> < 0.001, <i>p</i> < 0.05, respectively) or they had less education (<i>p</i> < 0.05). MENA women also avoided women's health exams due to religious/cultural issues if her physician was of the same religion as she (<i>p</i> < 0.01). MENA women 30-65 years old may no longer be bound to a female physician of their same religion/culture for their health exams.