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The role of gender in the decision to pursue a surgical career: A qualitative, interview-based study
BACKGROUND: Previous literature has explored the underrepresentation of women in surgery. However, this research has often been quantitative or limited by considering only the perspectives and experiences of women at more advanced career stages. Here, we use a qualitative methodology and a sample of...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Canadian Medical Education Journal
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7417818/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32821302 http://dx.doi.org/10.36834/cmej.69292 |
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author | Acai, Anita Mahetaji, Kaushar Reid, Susan E. Sonnadara, Ranil R. |
author_facet | Acai, Anita Mahetaji, Kaushar Reid, Susan E. Sonnadara, Ranil R. |
author_sort | Acai, Anita |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Previous literature has explored the underrepresentation of women in surgery. However, this research has often been quantitative or limited by considering only the perspectives and experiences of women at more advanced career stages. Here, we use a qualitative methodology and a sample of women and men across the career continuum to identify the role that gender plays in the decision to pursue a surgical career. METHODS: We audio-recorded and transcribed semi-structured interviews conducted with 12 women and 12 men ranging in their level of medical training from medical students to residents to staff surgeons. We used Braun and Clarke’s six-step approach to thematic analysis to analyze the data, maintaining trustworthiness and credibility by employing strategies including reflexivity and participant input. RESULTS: Our findings suggested that the characteristics of surgery and early exposure to the profession served as important factors in participants’ decisions to pursue a surgical career. Although not explicitly mentioned by participants, each of these areas may implicitly be gendered. Gender-based factors explicitly mentioned by participants included the surgical lifestyle and experiences with gender discrimination, including sexual harassment. These factors were perceived as challenges that disproportionately affected women and needed to be overcome when pursuing a surgical career. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that gender is more likely to act as a barrier to a career in surgery than as a motivator, especially among women. This suggests a need for early experiences in the operating room and mentorship. Policy change promoting work-life integration and education to target gender discrimination is also recommended. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7417818 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | Canadian Medical Education Journal |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-74178182020-08-19 The role of gender in the decision to pursue a surgical career: A qualitative, interview-based study Acai, Anita Mahetaji, Kaushar Reid, Susan E. Sonnadara, Ranil R. Can Med Educ J Major Contributions BACKGROUND: Previous literature has explored the underrepresentation of women in surgery. However, this research has often been quantitative or limited by considering only the perspectives and experiences of women at more advanced career stages. Here, we use a qualitative methodology and a sample of women and men across the career continuum to identify the role that gender plays in the decision to pursue a surgical career. METHODS: We audio-recorded and transcribed semi-structured interviews conducted with 12 women and 12 men ranging in their level of medical training from medical students to residents to staff surgeons. We used Braun and Clarke’s six-step approach to thematic analysis to analyze the data, maintaining trustworthiness and credibility by employing strategies including reflexivity and participant input. RESULTS: Our findings suggested that the characteristics of surgery and early exposure to the profession served as important factors in participants’ decisions to pursue a surgical career. Although not explicitly mentioned by participants, each of these areas may implicitly be gendered. Gender-based factors explicitly mentioned by participants included the surgical lifestyle and experiences with gender discrimination, including sexual harassment. These factors were perceived as challenges that disproportionately affected women and needed to be overcome when pursuing a surgical career. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that gender is more likely to act as a barrier to a career in surgery than as a motivator, especially among women. This suggests a need for early experiences in the operating room and mentorship. Policy change promoting work-life integration and education to target gender discrimination is also recommended. Canadian Medical Education Journal 2020-08-06 /pmc/articles/PMC7417818/ /pubmed/32821302 http://dx.doi.org/10.36834/cmej.69292 Text en © 2020 Acai, Mahetaji, Reid, Sonnadara; licensee Synergies Partners http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Journal Systems article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited |
spellingShingle | Major Contributions Acai, Anita Mahetaji, Kaushar Reid, Susan E. Sonnadara, Ranil R. The role of gender in the decision to pursue a surgical career: A qualitative, interview-based study |
title | The role of gender in the decision to pursue a surgical career: A qualitative, interview-based study |
title_full | The role of gender in the decision to pursue a surgical career: A qualitative, interview-based study |
title_fullStr | The role of gender in the decision to pursue a surgical career: A qualitative, interview-based study |
title_full_unstemmed | The role of gender in the decision to pursue a surgical career: A qualitative, interview-based study |
title_short | The role of gender in the decision to pursue a surgical career: A qualitative, interview-based study |
title_sort | role of gender in the decision to pursue a surgical career: a qualitative, interview-based study |
topic | Major Contributions |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7417818/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32821302 http://dx.doi.org/10.36834/cmej.69292 |
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