Chapter 4 92 Preferences in providers’ gender identity appear to become particularly salient under conditions in which delicate communications or the performance of sensitive physical examinations or care take place and require a sense of trust in the patient-physician relationship.42 Factors that affect a patient-physician relationship are multifactorial, however previous research determined that physicians, regardless of their gender identity, can evaluate and experience what is considered ‘trust’ in this relationship differently from patients; e.g. on the basis of their ability to solve patient’s problems through technical expertise, reliability and knowledgeability, whereas patients might focus more on interpersonal aspects such as care, appreciation, empathy and ability to listen.43 There is evidence that women physicians engage more in rapport building behaviours with patients that include attentive silences, verbal encouragements, non-verbal positive communications and affective behaviours such as expressing concern and empathy.44 To better understand how communication and rapport building behaviours and gender identities influence contextual patient preferences, further research is necessary that disentangles the effects of physicians and patients’ gender identities and physicians communication and rapport building styles.45 This allows a more nuanced investigation into the effect of socially desired or stereotypical behavioural preferences related to gender identity, in which gender identity becomes instrumental rather than solely explanatory for patients’ care provider preferences. Notwithstanding the clinical relevance of our novel findings, caution is warranted to avoid ‘making’ gender salient in healthcare communications or medical consultations when it is not perceived as important by the individual person with PD. A study by Puntoni et al (2011) into gender identity and the perceived vulnerability to breast cancer showed that a defensive response regarding personal risk perceptions can be triggered when health communication messages are not aligned with- or threaten self-concepts that people wish to preserve about themselves.46 Across a series of experiments, they demonstrated that health communications regarding breast cancer screening that heightened gender identity and stereotypical gender aspects (e.g. using pictures of women and including pink colours and ribbons in advertisements) decreased breast cancer risk perceptions among women compared to more ‘gender neutral’ communications. These results contrast the generally accepted ‘gender congruency effect’, according to which the salience of a particular identity should increase associated risk perceptions. With increased calls for more (sex- and) gender-specific PD research and care 5,7,47, it is simultaneously important to carefully consider and operationalize these constructs in research and health communications. Healthcare providers should be aware that, although every person has a gender identity, the salience of genderrelated experiences vary between people with PD. Highlighting gender identities and associated aspects in health communications could have unintended consequences
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw