探索男性和女性的抑郁经历以及他们与医疗专业人员的接触情况：相似之处多于差异？一项定性访谈研究。
Exploring men's and women's experiences of depression and engagement with health professionals: more similarities than differences? A qualitative interview study.
作者信息
Emslie Carol, Ridge Damien, Ziebland Sue, Hunt Kate
机构信息
MRC Social & Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow, UK.
出版信息
BMC Fam Pract. 2007 Jul 24;8:43. doi: 10.1186/1471-2296-8-43.
BACKGROUND
It is argued that the ways in which women express emotional distress mean that they are more likely to be diagnosed with depression, while men's relative lack of articulacy means their depression is hidden. This may have consequences for communicating with health professionals. The purpose of this analysis was to explore how men and women with depression articulate their emotional distress, and examine whether there are gender differences or similarities in the strategies that respondents found useful when engaging with health professionals.
METHODS
In-depth qualitative interviews with 22 women and 16 men in the UK who identified themselves as having had depression, recruited through general practitioners, psychiatrists and support groups.
RESULTS
We found gender similarities and gender differences in our sample. Both men and women found it difficult to recognise and articulate mental health problems and this had consequences for their ability to communicate with health professionals. Key gender differences noted were that men tended to value skills which helped them to talk while women valued listening skills in health professionals, and that men emphasised the importance of getting practical results from talking therapies in their narratives, as opposed to other forms of therapy which they conceptualised as 'just talking'. We also found diversity among women and among men; some respondents valued a close personal relationship with health professionals, while others felt that this personal relationship was a barrier to communication and preferred 'talking to a stranger'.
CONCLUSION
Our findings suggest that there is not a straightforward relationship between gender and engagement with health professionals for people with depression. Health professionals need to be sensitive to patients who have difficulties in expressing emotional distress and critical of gender stereotypes which suggest that women invariably find it easy to express emotional distress and men invariably find it difficult. In addition it is important to recognise that, for a minority of patients, a personal relationship with health professionals can act as a barrier to the disclosure of emotional distress.
背景
有人认为，女性表达情绪困扰的方式意味着她们更有可能被诊断为抑郁症，而男性相对不善言辞意味着他们的抑郁症被隐藏起来。这可能会对与医疗专业人员的沟通产生影响。本分析的目的是探讨患有抑郁症的男性和女性如何表达他们的情绪困扰，并研究在与医疗专业人员接触时，受访者认为有用的策略是否存在性别差异或相似之处。
方法
对英国22名女性和16名男性进行深入的定性访谈，这些人通过全科医生、精神科医生和支持团体招募，他们自认为患有抑郁症。
结果
我们在样本中发现了性别相似性和性别差异。男性和女性都发现很难识别和表达心理健康问题，这对他们与医疗专业人员沟通的能力产生了影响。注意到的主要性别差异是，男性倾向于重视有助于他们交谈的技能，而女性则重视医疗专业人员的倾听技能，并且男性在叙述中强调从谈话疗法中获得实际效果的重要性，而不是他们认为“只是交谈”的其他形式的疗法。我们还发现女性和男性内部存在多样性；一些受访者重视与医疗专业人员建立密切的个人关系，而另一些人则认为这种个人关系是沟通的障碍，更喜欢“与陌生人交谈”。
结论
我们的研究结果表明，对于患有抑郁症的人来说，性别与与医疗专业人员接触之间不存在直接关系。医疗专业人员需要对难以表达情绪困扰的患者保持敏感，并批判那种认为女性总是容易表达情绪困扰而男性总是难以表达的性别刻板印象。此外，重要的是要认识到，对于少数患者来说，与医疗专业人员的个人关系可能会成为披露情绪困扰的障碍。
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