Do Patients Prefer Male or Female Physicians/Counselors During Family Planning, Pregnancy and Birth Process? A Sample From Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate women's preferences regarding the gender of the team that provides health care in gynecology and obstetrics, and to find out the factors affecting their preferences. The data of this research were collected from 3 hospitals and 14 small health units. and t tests were used for the statistical evaluation of the data. The study participants are 324 females at the age of 15 to 49, who consulted any of the family planning units of the hospitals or health centers for a family planning method or for the continuation of the method they were already using. 388 participants (49 in the informed group and 339 in the uninformed group) responded to the questions in the questionnaire related with the process of pregnancy and birth. Two hundred forty two (74.69 %) of the counselees that participated in our study preferred female physicians/counselors. 160 patients (47.2%) who were among the uninformed group and preferred the same-sex health staff for medical care and 16 patients (32.6 %) who were among the informed group and expressed the same preference reported that females would understand them better and they would be more comfortable with female physicians. Culture affects not only our perceptions, values and feelings but also our communication with ourselves and other individuals. As a result, taboo communication is experienced between health care team and the patient in the field of gynecology and obstetrics. In the provision of family planning counseling services, counselees prefer female counselors because they have good communication skills. Patients prefer female physicians due to their pregnancy and birth experiences, too. KEYWORDS: Gender, communication, family planning, pregnancy, birth AİLE PLANLAMASI, GEBELİK VE DOĞUM SÜRECİNDE HASTALARIN TERCİHİ KADIN DOKTORLAR MI ERKEK DOKTORLAR MI? TÜRKİYE'DEN BİR ÖRNEK ÖZET: Bu çalışma jinekoloji ve obstetrik alanında hizmet almak için başvuran kadınların hizmet aldıkları sağlık ekibinin cinsiyetleri ile ilgili tercihleri ve bu tercihlerde etkili olan unsurları belirlemek amacıyla yapılmıştır. Araştırmanın verileri 3 ayrı hastane ve 14 sağlık ocağından sağlanmıştır. Verilerin istatistiki olarak değerlendirilmelerinde 2 ve t testinden yararlanılmıştır. Hastanelerin aile planlamaları üniteleri ve sağlık ocaklarından herhangi bir aile planlaması yöntemi almak ya da kullandıkları yöntemin devamlılığını sağlamak için başvuran 15-49 yaş arası 324 kadın araştırmaya katılmıştır. Gebelik ve doğum süreci ile ilgili olarak 388 kişi (49'u bilgilendirilmiş, 339'u bilgilendirilmemiş grubu oluşturacak şekilde) soru kağıtlarını yanıtlamışlardır. Araştırmamıza katılan danışanların %74.69'unun kadın doktorları / danışmanları tercih ettikleri görülmüştür. Bilgilendirilmemiş grupta olan ve kendileri ile aynı cinsten bir sağlık ekibinden tıbbi bakım almak isteyen hastaların 160'ı (%47.2) ile bilgilendirilmiş grupta olan ve aynı isteği ifade eden hastaların 16'sı (%32.6) kadınların kendilerini daha iyi anlayacağını ve kadınlara karşı daha rahat o...

Assessment of Pregnant Women Preference of Midwives Gender for Birth Attendant and Associated Factors :- A Faclitiy Based Cross Sectional Study, Ambo Town, Ethiopia

“…Women who are house wives when related to private employed were six times more likely prefer female midwife than male midwife and governmental employed as compared to private employed were three times more likely prefer female midwife than male midwife. This result is in line with the studies conducted in Shashemene and Turkey [18,26]. As female care givers show their gender-related roles they think they do not fear each other and they are more preferred for care, which is believed as a special position for women.…”

“…Women's who have no formal education were more likely select female midwives. This is similar with the study conducted in Israel and Turkey [5,26]. The preference of pregnant women for female midwife, decrease as the women's educational status increase.…”

Respectful delivery care and associated factors among mothers delivered in public health facilities of Dessie city, Northeast Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

“…Numerous studies indicated that maternal respect during childbirth could be influenced by maternal characteristics (age, educational status, occupation, residence) [1,26,27], health care provider's characteristics (type of profession, estimated work hour per day, sex of profession) [25,[28][29][30][31][32] and health facilities characteristics (type of facility) [1,13,14,25]. The government of Ethiopia also adopts SDG and Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II).…”