IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v62y2006i6p1528-1540.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Attitudes towards patient gender among psychiatric hospital staff: Results of a case study with focus groups

Author

Listed:
  • Krumm, Silvia
  • Kilian, Reinhold
  • Becker, Thomas

Abstract

There is an increasing awareness of gender-related issues in psychiatry. However, empirical findings on attitudes of psychiatric staff towards patient gender are limited. Gender-related issues are particularly relevant in the debate about mixed versus segregated sex wards, yet while the appropriateness of mixed-sex wards is questioned in Great Britain this is not the case in Germany. To investigate attitudes of psychiatric staff towards both patient gender and mixed versus segregated sex wards, we conducted a case study using focus groups with members of professional teams. We evaluated the transition process from two single-sex wards to two mixed-sex wards in a 330-bed psychiatric hospital in a rural area in south Germany. Staff described female patients as more externally oriented, motivating of others, demanding, and even sexually aggressive. Male patients, on the other hand, were described as more quiet, modest, or lazy. Furthermore, participants described the mixing process as a positive development whereas they did not see a need for gender-separated wards in order to protect vulnerable female patients. Some gender descriptions by professionals are "reversed" in comparison with gender stereotypes supposed to be present in wider society. The perception of crossed gender norms may affect staff attitudes towards the vulnerability of female patients in psychiatric settings and the provision of single-sex wards in in-patient psychiatric care. Practical implications are discussed against the background of a high rate of female patients with sexual abuse histories.

Suggested Citation

  • Krumm, Silvia & Kilian, Reinhold & Becker, Thomas, 2006. "Attitudes towards patient gender among psychiatric hospital staff: Results of a case study with focus groups," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(6), pages 1528-1540, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:62:y:2006:i:6:p:1528-1540
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(05)00421-1
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Georgie D. M. Hyde, 1988. "The Role of Women," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: South Korea, chapter 6, pages 100-113, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Alison M. Heru, 2001. "The Linkages Between Gender and Victimhood," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 47(3), pages 10-20, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Frank, Odile, 1990. "The childbearing family in sub-Saharan Africa : structure, fertility, and the future," Policy Research Working Paper Series 509, The World Bank.
    2. repec:ilo:ilowps:304973 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Fan, Linlin & Nogueira, Lia & Baylis, Katherine R., 2013. "Agricultural Market Reforms and Nutritional Transition in Rural China," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150203, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Jongsoon Kim & Saesook Oh & Boonhong Yeon, 2022. "Leisure Constraint Negotiation Strategies among Serious Leisure Participants in Swimming: Experiences of Facility Use Restriction Due to COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-13, March.
    5. Viswanath Venkatesh, 2000. "Determinants of Perceived Ease of Use: Integrating Control, Intrinsic Motivation, and Emotion into the Technology Acceptance Model," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 11(4), pages 342-365, December.
    6. Éva Sztáray Kézdy & Zsófia Drjenovszky, 2021. "Hungarian Stay-at-Home Fathers: A New Alternative for Family Wellbeing," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-20, May.
    7. Lancellotti, Matthew P. & Thomas, Sunil, 2018. "Men hate it, women love it: Guilty pleasure advertising messages," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 271-280.
    8. Alex Bryson & Harald Dale-Olsen & Kristine Nergaard, 2016. "Gender Differences in the Union Wage Premium? A Comparative Case Study," DoQSS Working Papers 16-15, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    9. Shwetlena Sabarwal & Nistha Sinha & Mayra Buvinic, 2011. "How Do Women Weather Economic Shocks? What We Know," World Bank Publications - Reports 10113, The World Bank Group.
    10. van der Vyver, A. & McLachlan, M. & du Toit, I. E., 1992. "The Role Of Women In Rural And Community Development In South Africa," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 31(2), June.
    11. Sabarwal, Shwetlena & Sinha, Nistha & Buvinic, Mayra, 2010. "How do women weather economic shocks ? a review of the evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5496, The World Bank.
    12. Doha Abdelhamid & Alia El Mahdi, 2003. "The Small Business Informality Challenge: Lessons Learned From Country Experiences and The Road Ahead of Egypt," Working Papers 0324, Economic Research Forum, revised 08 2003.
    13. Kalnins, Arturs & Williams, Michele, 2014. "When do female-owned businesses out-survive male-owned businesses? A disaggregated approach by industry and geography," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 822-835.
    14. K.N. Vijayanthi, 2002. "Women's Empowerment through Self-help Groups," Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Centre for Women's Development Studies, vol. 9(2), pages 263-274, September.
    15. Nayef Al-Ghamri, 2016. "Challenges Facing Businesswomen and Their Negative Impact on the Performance of Small Businesses in the Province of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(9), pages 1-96, August.
    16. Valenzuela, Marcus A. & Flinchbaugh, Carol & Rogers, Sean Edmund, 2020. "Can organizations help adjust?: The effect of perceived organizational climate on immigrants' acculturation and consequent effect on perceived fit," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(3).
    17. Christina Felfe, 2008. "Return to Work - Mothers' Willingness to Pay for Job Amenities," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2008 2008-25, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
    18. Lantana M. Usman, 2010. "Street hawking and socio‐economic dynamics of nomadic girls of northern Nigeria," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 37(9), pages 717-734, August.
    19. Shahnaz Kazi & Bilquees Raza, 1995. "Rural Women’s Access to Credit and Extension: A Strategy for Change," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 34(4), pages 753-765.
    20. Tangka, F K & Jabbar, Mohammad A. & Shapiro, B I, 2000. "Gender roles and child nutrition in ruminant livestock production systems in developing countries – A critical review," Research Reports 182898, International Livestock Research Institute.
    21. Holmlund, Helena & Sund, Krister, 2008. "Is the gender gap in school performance affected by the sex of the teacher," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 37-53, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:62:y:2006:i:6:p:1528-1540. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.