Preferences for gender of family physician among Canadian European-descent and South-Asian immigrant women

Objective. The aim of this study was to investigate expressed preferences for family physician (FP) gender among Canadian European-descent (CED) and Canadian South-Asian (CSA) immigrant women. Method. An 'on-site' survey was conducted in community-based institutions in Toronto in order to determine preferences for the gender of FP under various health care scenarios: overall health care; gender-sensitive examinations; emotional problems; general ailments; and life-threatening conditions. Results. Ninety-four women responded to this survey (CED = 50, CSA = 44), response rate 77.3%. For all health care scenarios, CED and CSA women similarly expressed either a preference for a female FP or no preference. More than two-thirds of women preferred a female FP for gynaecological examinations (CED, 72.9%; CSA, 83.7%) or examinations with private body part exposure (CED, 72%; CSA, 81.8%). For 'emotional problems', half of the women preferred a female FP and the other half had no preference. A similar pattern was observed for 'overall health care', with some shift to female physician preference among CSA women (60.5%) compared with CED women (53.2%). For the 'overall health care' scenario, CED and CSA women who preferred a female FP had a higher frequency of seeing female physicians within the last 5 years (CED, P less than or equal to0.01; CSA, P less than or equal to0.05), and attributed 'positive' social skills more to female physicians (CED, P less than or equal to0.01; CSA, P less than or equal to0.01) compared with women with no preference for the gender of the FP. Yet, CED women with a female FP preference were more likely to have a concurrent female FP (P less than or equal to 0.01), and to rate past experiences with female physicians as high (P less than or equal to 0.01) and with male physicians as low (P less than or equal to 0.05) compared with CED women with no preference. In the CSA group, women with a preference for a female FP were more likely to be unemployed (P less than or equal to 0.01) and have low social support (P less than or equal to 0.01). Conclusions. Despite similar physician gender preference patterns, factors associated with these preferences show some differences between CED and CSA women.