A feminist model for women's health care

Abstract

A feminist model of practice is grounded in feminist theories that are applicable to the health and health care of women. The goal of this model is to change how health care is delivered to individual women, but also to seek social transformation. Four major themes recur in this model: symmetry in provider-patient relationships, access to information, shared decision-making, and social change. This article describes ways in which clinicians can integrate these themes into practice. Suggestions for maintaining symmetry in the traditional power relationship include decreasing physical, social and personal barriers and attentive listening to patients' stories. Access to information involves creating an atmosphere that is conducive to teaching and learning, but also helping patients access other sources of information. Shared decision-making is central to feminist practice and is attainable when patients have been empowered and are knowledgeable about their healthcare needs. Social change entails the ever vigilant clinician who is familiar with the latest literature, both professional and lay, in order to critically analyse research studies, our colleagues' interpretations of those studies and how recommendations for practice are reached. Collectively, clinicians work with the public to strive for change within the healthcare system and society as a whole.

Redesigning Prenatal Care Through CenteringPregnancy

“…Feminism is founded on a number of philosophical and theoretical beliefs about women and their place and role in the world. Andrist proposed a feminist foundation for health care that would include symmetry in the provider‐patient relationship, access to information, participation in decision making, and potential for social change 9 . Symmetry in the provider‐patient relationship redresses the power differential between a woman and her health care provider.…”

A Literary Analysis of Global Female Identity, Health, and Equity

“…Linda Andrist 31 proposed a model of feminist model of healthcare in which women could transform traditional power dynamics to maintain their strength. The model includes four central principles: symmetry in patient-provider interactions, access to information, shared decision-making, and social change of the culture of modern women’s health.…”

“…Within Andrist’s call to “maintain symmetry”, she incorporates both a local and global feminine perspective, echoing the pathways the female protagonists took toward self-identity and health. On a local level, she urges providers to “listen to the everyday experiences of their patients” 31 (p269) and understand the relational identity of women in order to understand their lifeworld, competing responsibilities to others, and in so doing counterbalance the traditional patriarchy of medical communication.…”

Woman-Centered Maternity Nursing Education and Practice

“…stimulate social and political action to change women's experiences in health care (Andrist, 1997a;Ashley, 1976Ashley, , 1980Mason, Backer, & Georges, 1991;Sampselle, 1990). Feminist pedagogy was celebrated as a way of This teaching project provided the opportunity to teaching to connect learning with personal meanings, selfevaluate students' learning and transformation as they awareness, and social consciousness-all key to social accame to recognize oppressive health care practices in tivism (Chapman, 1997;Chinn, 1989;Heinrich & Witt, childbearing.…”

“…For the past seven Background years, two other faculty members and this author cotaught a core maternity nursing course that focused stuThe women's health movement that evolved from second-wave feminism called for a woman-centered dent learning around a philosophy of woman-centered care. The course was designed to help nursing students model of health care based on feminist ethics (Andrist, 1997a;Ruzek, 1978;Sherwin, 1998). Woman-centered critique childbearing health care practices using a postmodern-feminist perspective and to value a woman-cencare models seek to provide holistic health care approaches that empower women and acknowledge the tered philosophy aimed at supporting women in making informed choices (Giarratano, 1997;Giarratano, Busta-relational needs and social stresses impacting women's experiences.…”