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The effects of gender on diagnosis of psychological disturbance

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Abstract

This research examines the effect of patient gender on the detection of psychological disturbance. In Study 1, primary-care patients were requested to complete the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), a measure of nonpsychiatric psychological disturbance, prior to their consultation. The patient's GHQ score was compared with physician judgments about the level of disturbance in that patient (N=1913). Although there were a similar number of GHQ high scorers among males and females, the physicians classified significantly more females than males as disturbed. The doctors classified as disturbed a larger proportion of nondisturbed women than nondisturbed men. In order to explore the behavior of recent medical graduates, Study 2 examined the detection behavior of interns in an outpatient department with 384 of their patients. The interns behaved in a similar manner to the primary-care physicians.

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This study was part of two large research projects, one undertaken by the Newcastle Primary Care Research Group, funded by NH & MRC, and one looking at quality of care in interns, supported by RADGAC. The principal Investigator for both studies was R.W. Sanson-Fisher, Professor of Behavioural Science in Relation to Medicine.

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Redman, S., Webb, G.R., Hennrikus, D.J. et al. The effects of gender on diagnosis of psychological disturbance. J Behav Med 14, 527–540 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00845109

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