Scott Desiree, Derrett Sarah, Rupel Valentina Prevolnik, Jelsma Jennifer, Gurung Gagan, Oduro Georgina Yaa, Withey-Rila Cassie
Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Ngāi Tahu Māori Health Research Unit, Division of Health Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Qual Life Res. 2025 Jan;34(1):67-87. doi: 10.1007/s11136-024-03765-2. Epub 2024 Aug 29.
To ensure the recognition and participation of all potential respondents in health research, surveys and care, including LGBTQIA + broadly, and trans people, specifically, the use of inclusive language should be considered. This scoping review aimed to identify and describe strategies considered for gender inclusivity in development and use of health questionnaires and Patient Reported Outcomes Measures (PROMs).
A systematic search of peer reviewed publications between January 2000 and September 2022 was conducted in Scopus, ProQuest Central, Ovid Medline (PubMed and EBSCO). Two reviewers independently screened identified publications titles and abstracts, followed by full text screening and data extraction from eligible articles.
The search of over 5000 publications, retained 18; most acknowledged gaps in representation and advocated for gender-inclusive language. Eight articles discussed exclusion from health care and health research for gender minority groups due to the use of gendered language. Improved reliability, validity and response rates were associated with the use of gender-neutral language in seven articles. Only one article reported finding irritation among cisgender males when non-binary gender response options were used. One paper, focussing on instruments for Rheumatoid Arthritis, discussed gaps in representation if diverse gender identities were not considered when developing PROMs.
This scoping review points to the importance of adopting gender-inclusive language in health questionnaires and surveys to reduce the risk of excluding gender minority groups. Despite finding very few specific examples of how others have used gender-inclusive language in health questionnaires, many strengths of gender-inclusive language usage were identified.
为确保所有潜在受访者参与健康研究、调查和护理，包括广泛的 LGBTQIA+群体，特别是跨性别者，应考虑使用包容性语言。本范围综述旨在识别和描述在健康问卷和患者报告结局测量指标（PROMs）的开发和使用中考虑的性别包容性策略。
在 Scopus、ProQuest Central、Ovid Medline（PubMed 和 EBSCO）中对 2000 年 1 月至 2022 年 9 月期间的同行评审出版物进行系统检索。两名评审员独立筛选已识别的出版物标题和摘要，随后进行全文筛选并从符合条件的文章中提取数据。
在检索的 5000 多篇出版物中，保留了 18 篇；大多数都承认在代表性方面存在差距，并主张使用性别包容性语言。八篇文章讨论了由于使用性别化语言，性别少数群体被排除在医疗保健和健康研究之外的情况。七篇文章表明，使用中性语言与提高信度、效度和回复率相关。只有一篇文章报告称，当使用非二元性别回答选项时，顺性别男性中出现了不满情绪。一篇关注类风湿性关节炎测量工具的论文讨论了在开发 PROMs 时如果不考虑不同性别认同在代表性方面存在的差距。
本范围综述指出在健康问卷和调查中采用性别包容性语言以降低排除性别少数群体风险的重要性。尽管发现很少有其他人在健康问卷中使用性别包容性语言的具体例子，但确定了使用性别包容性语言的许多优点。
