Volume 25, Issue 108, February, 2021

Preferences and attitudes of Saudi female patients toward the gender of obstetricians and gynecologists

Khalid Akkour^1♦, Waleed H Alkhamis¹, Modhi M AlJumah², Lora T Dahy¹, Hani Alhalal¹, Nada Alayed¹, Maria Arafah³, Shazia Iqbal²

¹Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia
²Alfarabi College of Medicine, Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia
³Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia

^♦Corresponding author
Consultant and Assistant professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, College of medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia; Email: kakkour@ksu.edu.sa

ABSTRACT

Background: Our aim is to evaluate the preferences and attitudes of Saudi females toward the gender of obstetricians and gynecologists (OB/GYN). Methods: We conducted an observational cross-sectional survey-based study on June-July 2020 among females attending the primary health care clinics in our institution. Results: We analyzed the association between the participants’ variable characteristics and their gender preferences. Among 593 respondents, 74% preferred female OB/GYN doctors, while 17.4% have no gender preference and only 8.6% preferred male doctors. The most common reasons for female gender preference were “Issues of personal modesty” (58.2%), followed by “Religious beliefs” (44.7%), and “Females understand the problem better” (23.1%). More than third (40.8%) believed that a career in OB/GYN should be reserved for females. Conclusion: Similar to other Middle East countries, our society has a strong female OB/GYN gender preference and nationwide studies should be carried out and adopting new strategies are important to promote education, enhance workplaces and inaugurate gender equity.

Keywords: Bias, Females, Gender, Gynecologists, Obstetricians, Preference

Medical Science, 2021, 25(108), 353-362

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