TY - JOUR
T1 - Gender bias in sports medicine
T2 - An international assessment of sports medicine physicians' perceptions of their interactions with athletes, coaches, athletic trainers and other physicians
AU - Tsukahara, Yuka
AU - Novak, Melissa
AU - Takei, Seira
AU - Asif, Irfan M.
AU - Yamasawa, Fumihiro
AU - Torii, Suguru
AU - Akama, Takao
AU - Matsumoto, Hideo
AU - Day, Carly
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was financially supported by TOBE MAKI scholarship foundation (20-JC-006), whose support and encouragement are profoundly appreciated.
Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
PY - 2022/9/1
Y1 - 2022/9/1
N2 - Objectives: To evaluate the difference between female and male sports medicine physicians regarding disrespectful attitudes and sexual harassment perceived from athletes, coaches, physicians, athletic trainers (ATs) and organisations/administrations. Methods and study design: anonymous survey was distributed to sports medicine physicians practicing in 51 countries. χ2 analysis was used to detect differences between female and male sports medicine physicians and logistic regression analysis was used to determine the independent variables that affect disrespectful attitudes and sexual harassment from sports participants. Results: 1193 sports medicine physicians (31.9% female) participated from 51 countries. The survey revealed that female physicians, compared with male physicians, perceive significantly more disrespect or have their judgement questioned more by the following categories: male and female athletes, male and female coaches, female physicians with more years of experience, male physicians (regardless of years of experience), male and female ATs and organisation/administrations (all p<0.05). The only category where the frequency of disrespect was perceived equally by male and female physicians was during their interactions with female physicians who have the same or lesser years of experience. Female sports medicine physicians noted more sexual harassment than male physicians during interactions with male athletes, coaches, ATs and physicians (all p<0.001). In the logistic regression, gender was a related factor for perceiving disrespect, especially from male coaches (OR=2.01) and physicians with more years of experience (OR=2.18). Conclusions: Female sports medicine physicians around the world experience disrespectful attitudes, questioning of their judgement and are sexually harassed significantly more often than male counterparts.
AB - Objectives: To evaluate the difference between female and male sports medicine physicians regarding disrespectful attitudes and sexual harassment perceived from athletes, coaches, physicians, athletic trainers (ATs) and organisations/administrations. Methods and study design: anonymous survey was distributed to sports medicine physicians practicing in 51 countries. χ2 analysis was used to detect differences between female and male sports medicine physicians and logistic regression analysis was used to determine the independent variables that affect disrespectful attitudes and sexual harassment from sports participants. Results: 1193 sports medicine physicians (31.9% female) participated from 51 countries. The survey revealed that female physicians, compared with male physicians, perceive significantly more disrespect or have their judgement questioned more by the following categories: male and female athletes, male and female coaches, female physicians with more years of experience, male physicians (regardless of years of experience), male and female ATs and organisation/administrations (all p<0.05). The only category where the frequency of disrespect was perceived equally by male and female physicians was during their interactions with female physicians who have the same or lesser years of experience. Female sports medicine physicians noted more sexual harassment than male physicians during interactions with male athletes, coaches, ATs and physicians (all p<0.001). In the logistic regression, gender was a related factor for perceiving disrespect, especially from male coaches (OR=2.01) and physicians with more years of experience (OR=2.18). Conclusions: Female sports medicine physicians around the world experience disrespectful attitudes, questioning of their judgement and are sexually harassed significantly more often than male counterparts.
KW - Female
KW - Physician
KW - Sexual harassment
KW - Sports medicine
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U2 - 10.1136/bjsports-2021-104695
DO - 10.1136/bjsports-2021-104695
M3 - Article
C2 - 35738877
AN - SCOPUS:85134599932
SN - 0306-3674
JO - British journal of sports medicine
JF - British journal of sports medicine
M1 - bjsports-2021-104695
ER -