Evaluation of Gender Awareness Among Medical Students in Istanbul

Abstract

Objective: Our study aimed to evaluate the gender awareness of students in a medical school in Istanbul using a valid and reliable scale in Turkish. Methods: The population of this descriptive study consists of 1523 medical students studying at a state university in Istanbul in the 2020-2021 academic year. The study was conducted with 484 participants. The data were collected using a questionnaire for sociodemographic features and the Nijmegen Gender Awareness in Medicine Scale (N-GAMS) filled out by the participants. Statistically, p<0.05 was considered as the level of significance. Ethics committee approval was obtained from the relevant institution before the study. Results: Most of the participants were females (n=319, 65.9%) and the participants' mean age was 21.8±2.1 years. Multivariate tests showed differences in gender role ideology towards patients and doctors according to the gender of the participants and the working situation of their mothers. Also, significant sex-related differences were found in gender sensitivity as well. As compared to others, male students or those whose mothers were unemployed held slightly more gender stereotypes towards patients and doctors. Conclusion: We suggest that gender issues should be included in medical education to focus on gender attitudes. The goal of education about gender is to make students interested and aware of the significance of gender in medical work. It can be suggested that students can become more positive and engaged as they learn more and become accustomed to gender debates.

Keywords

• Gender awareness
• gender sensibility
• medical students

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