Offiah Gozie, Cable Stuart, Schofield Susie, Rees Charlotte E
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin, Ireland.
Centre for Medical Education, School of Medicine, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom.
Front Med (Lausanne). 2024 Jul 22;11:1379579. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1379579. eCollection 2024.
While many studies have explored surgeons' personal and professional identities separately, our study is the first to examine intersecting female surgical identities. We explore intersecting surgical identities constructed by self and others (colleagues and patients) within two healthcare systems and their perceived impacts answering the research question: How do female surgeons' constructed identities intersect, and what influences do those intersections have on their surgical lives?
We employed qualitative methodology drawing on semi-structured biographical narrative interviews underpinned by social constructionism. We employed intersectionality theory as an analytical lens. We adopted maximum variation sampling to identify diverse participants, including 38 surgeons (29 female; 9 male), 9 non-surgical colleagues (8 female, 1 male), and 13 patients of female surgeons (7 female, 6 male). Our 29 female surgeons also included six who had transitioned out of surgery. We analyzed the dataset using a five-step Framework Analysis approach. We captured talk identities, as well as identity talk (constructions of identity through participants' talk).
Multiple intersecting personal (not just gender) and professional identities were constructed and reported to have multiple impacts on female surgeons' lives (including their education, training, and success). We present intersecting identities and their impacts relating to gender through four primary intersections: (a) gender + ethnic identities; (b) gender + parenthood identities; (c) gender + age identities; and (d) gender + professional identities (namely carer, competent, mentor/mentee, role model and leader). Our findings particularly highlight the challenges experienced by female surgeons of color, who are mothers, who are younger and/or who are leaders, illustrating diversity in women's experiences beyond that of gender alone. Finally, we found unexpected insights into male surgeons and fatherhood.
Intersectionality theory offered a novel analytical lens to extend existing knowledge on female surgical identities. Further research is warranted exploring intersecting identities of female surgeons of color, younger female surgeons, and male surgeons who are fathers, as well as identities unexplored in this study (e.g., diverse sexualities). We need to raise awareness of intersecting identities and their impacts in surgery, as well as providing training, allyship, and policy revision that is sensitive to intersectionality.
虽然许多研究分别探讨了外科医生的个人身份和职业身份，但我们的研究是首次考察女性外科身份的交叉情况。我们探讨了在两个医疗系统中由自我以及他人（同事和患者）构建的交叉外科身份，以及它们所感知到的影响，以回答研究问题：女性外科医生构建的身份是如何交叉的，这些交叉对她们的外科生涯有什么影响？
我们采用了定性研究方法，以社会建构主义为基础进行半结构化传记式叙事访谈。我们运用交叉性理论作为分析视角。我们采用最大差异抽样来确定不同的参与者，包括38名外科医生（29名女性；9名男性）、9名非外科同事（8名女性，1名男性）以及13名女性外科医生的患者（7名女性，6名男性）。我们的29名女性外科医生中还包括6名已转行不再从事外科工作的医生。我们使用五步框架分析法对数据集进行分析。我们捕捉了话语身份以及身份话语（通过参与者的话语构建身份）。
构建了多种交叉的个人身份（不仅仅是性别身份）和职业身份，并且这些身份对女性外科医生的生活（包括她们的教育、培训和成功）产生了多重影响。我们通过四个主要交叉点呈现与性别相关的交叉身份及其影响：（a）性别 + 种族身份；（b）性别 + 为人父母的身份；（c）性别 + 年龄身份；以及（d）性别 + 职业身份（即照顾者、胜任者、导师/学员、榜样和领导者）。我们的研究结果特别突出了有色人种女性外科医生、身为母亲的女性外科医生、年轻女性外科医生和/或担任领导职务的女性外科医生所经历的挑战，这说明了女性经历的多样性不仅仅局限于性别。最后，我们对男性外科医生和父亲身份有了意外的见解。
交叉性理论为扩展关于女性外科身份的现有知识提供了一个新颖的分析视角。有必要进一步研究有色人种女性外科医生、年轻女性外科医生以及身为父亲的男性外科医生的交叉身份，以及本研究未探讨的身份（例如，不同的性取向）。我们需要提高对外科领域交叉身份及其影响的认识，并提供对交叉性敏感的培训、支持以及政策修订。
