Clinician-Patient Communication: Gender Influences

This chapter reviews current research on how sex and gender factor into various forms of communication during clinician-patient interactions. To what extent is it possible to generalize about the communication styles or tendencies of women patients versus men patients? From the clinician’s perspective, do some communication styles or strategies work better to facilitate positive relationships with men or women patients? What expectations do patients bring to the healthcare encounter, and how might these expectations differ according to factors such as gender, race, age, and culture? In addressing such questions, the goal of this chapter is to offer practical, evidence-based guidelines to help clinicians harness the power of language and to develop a new awareness of the significance of gender in the context of communication with patients.