Gender awareness is also nurses' business: Measuring sensitivity and role ideology towards patients

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to validate the Nijmegen Gender Awareness in Medicine Scale, which assesses gender sensitivity and gender-role ideology towards patients in the Spanish language for use among physicians and nurses. Background: Women are more likely to suffer pain, delays and health consequences related to low therapeutic effort. Health professionals' gender awareness may minimize such bias; however, the only instrument to assess such awareness is limited to physicians and lacks a Spanish version. Methods: After using the back-translation method, a sample of 167 Spanish nurses and nursing students completed the instrument. In order to obtain additional validity evidence, 98 health professionals filled in gender sensitivity and gender-role ideology towards patients' subscales and the short versions of the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory. Results: Gender-role ideology towards patients correlated strongly with sexist attitudes, demonstrating convergent validity, and Cronbach's alpha coefficients showed an adequate internal consistency. Conclusions: Nijmegen Gender Awareness in Medicine Scale perfectly applies to nurse population, and this adaptation also broadens its use for Spanish professionals. Implications for Nursing Management: Nurse managers and educators can use this applicable tool to treat low gender awareness levels as a modifiable risk factor and promote a gender-sensitive caring culture.