Gender Aware PD Care 175 6 endorse traditional masculine gender norms.54,55 Such intricate interplays necessitate more nuanced research approaches, that can shed light on the compounded influences of social identity, gender norms, and disease-specific symptomatology. Herein, contextualisation should be prioritised over broad generalisation, as these considerations steer away from a one-size-fits-all paradigm and towards precision medicine.3,56,57 Recognising these nuanced interactions will ensure more tailored and effective health interventions. When designing health interventions that support changes in attitudes and behaviours related to rigid gender norms and stereotypes, a recent review concluded that design studies that involved groups with mixed gender identities were generally lower in quality than those working with single gender identity groups.11 Furthermore, this study stated the importance of dismantling and avoiding the reinforcement of rigid gender stereotypes during participatory sessions in which they are being addressed. During the participatory sessions in our study, the single gender identity groups were effective in avoiding the reinforcement of rigid norms and stereotypes due to the different perspectives that were shared within the men and women groups. This offered an exchange of diverse within-group experiences that contributed to an atmosphere of ‘talking about’ rather than ‘talking from’ norms and stereotypes. The general average Gender Self-Confidence score of the participants might also have contributed to this atmosphere. Although participants were allocated to the focus groups based on their Hoffman Gender Scale score, the within-group score distribution was relatively low, with few significant extremes. When people do not strongly associate their sense of self with masculinities or femininities, their perceptions and behaviours are less likely to be strongly regulated by cognitive ‘gender schemas’: the extent to which participants consider gender an important frame of reference and inclination to regulate their perception and behaviours through self-stereotyping.58,59 It might therefore be easier to ‘talk about’ gendered experiences because personal experiences are less processed and evaluated through the lens of normative gendered practices. We recommend further investigation into the moderating effects of the perceived salience of individual gender identity on the performance of gender norms and their impact on health outcomes for people with PD. Besides the investigation of gender norms and stereotypes in personal illness experiences, it is equally important the investigate the gendered social systems that reproduce these experiences to ultimately address broader harmful social gender norms.60 For qualitative researchers studying gender stereotypes and norms, there is serious potential for a ‘catch-22’ situation when we are not aware of the ‘talking about’ versus ‘talking from’ social dynamics. In attempts to address gender biases in health,
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