Operationalization and Reporting Practices in Manuscripts Addressing Gender Differences in Biomedical Research: A Cross-Sectional Bibliographical Study
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Sample Selection
2.2. Data Collection and Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Disciplinary Distribution and Authorship of the Identified Manuscripts
3.2. Extent of Gender-Related Information in Manuscripts Reporting Gender Differences
3.3. Examples of Reporting of Gender Dimensions in Biomedical Research
“We should note that we prefer the term ‘gender’ over ‘sex’ as our investigation here pertains to adults who have their identities shaped by the varying and intersecting sociocultural norms they encounter, in addition to the unique biological characteristics determined by their sex alone (Schiebinger and Stefanick, 2016)”.(p. 184)
“We adopted the current definitions of sex and gender, according to which sex is considered a biological component, which is defined via the genetic complement of chromosomes, whereas gender refers to the social, environmental, cultural, and behavioral factors and choices that influence a person’s self-identity and health (Clayton and Tannenbaum, 2016; National Institute of Health Office of Research on Women’s Health, 2019). Since it cannot be determined that any of the effects discussed in this study are caused by biological factors alone, differences between men and women are referred to as “gender differences.” This does, however, not exclude the possibility that biological and social factors may interact in explaining the present results. If cited literature addressed sex or gender differences, their wording was adopted”.(p. 2)
“Patients in our sample did not report any nonbinary gender identities. Given the health disparities, discrimination, and stigma that gender minorities experience in the health care system and the subsequent mistrust of medical professionals that arises in the community, it is possible that psychosocial-spiritual healing may be influenced by other nonbinary gender identities. Future studies should investigate the processes involved in psycho-social-spiritual healing in individuals who identify with nonbinary gender identities. In addition, we did not explore the ways in which gender roles and expectations intersect with gender identity to influence healing experiences and self-reported pain, severity of medical illness, and perception of overall health”.(p. 1519)
“Participants were asked whether they are male or female; however, this method does not allow us to know whether participants reported their sex or gender [31]. Thus, we will use the term “sex/gender””.(p. 1518).
“They included […] gender roles (using the Bem Sex Role Inventory to classify participants according to masculinity and femininity scores into the following: androgynous with both high masculinity and femininity scores; masculine with higher masculinity scores; feminine with higher femininity scores; and undifferentiated with both low scores on masculinity and femininity)”.(p. 1200)
3.4. Dimensions of Gender and Representation of Gender-Related Content
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Abstract | |
---|---|
A1 | Structured abstract |
A2 | Objective: gender-sensitive research |
A3 | Mention of gender differences in background |
A4 | Details about gender identity of included participants in methods/results |
A5 | Gender-disaggregated reporting of results |
A6 | Identified gender differences (or lack thereof) addressed in the conclusion |
A7 | Consequences of the identified gender differences (or lack thereof) addressed |
Introduction | |
I1 | Gender explicitly defined |
I2 | Background information about the impact of gender reported |
I3 | Reporting of preliminary data about gender (differences) |
I4 | Hypothesis-driven investigation of gender (differences) |
I5 | Need for gender-sensitive analysis substantiated |
Methods | |
M1 | Attribution of gender explicitly described |
M2 | Gender dimension(s) addressed |
M3 | Consideration of gender upon recruitment |
M4 | Statistical power to analyze the impact of gender reported |
M5 | Impact of gender on study access described |
M6 | Impact of gender on the functioning of the study/intervention reported |
M7 | Gender distribution in the research team mentioned |
M8 | Gender-disaggregated analysis presented |
M9 | Consideration of gender-specific ethical aspects |
Results | |
R1 | Included numbers reported by gender (identity) |
R2 | Analyzed data disaggregated by gender (identity) |
R3 | Gender-disaggregated reporting even if no differences found |
R4 | Drop-outs, withdrawals, outliers, loss-to-follow up reported by gender (identity) |
R5 | Gender-specific confounders mentioned and corrected for |
R6 | Intersectional analyses included |
R7 | Gender differences represented in tables, figures and/or graphs |
Discussion | |
D1 | Considerations towards the generalizability of gender-sensitive results included |
D2 | Reasons for gender differences included |
D3 | Implications of gender differences discussed |
D4 | Actionable consequences of gender differences discussed |
D5 | Gender-specific limitations reported |
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van den Hurk, L.; Hiltner, S.; Oertelt-Prigione, S. Operationalization and Reporting Practices in Manuscripts Addressing Gender Differences in Biomedical Research: A Cross-Sectional Bibliographical Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 14299. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114299
van den Hurk L, Hiltner S, Oertelt-Prigione S. Operationalization and Reporting Practices in Manuscripts Addressing Gender Differences in Biomedical Research: A Cross-Sectional Bibliographical Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(21):14299. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114299
Chicago/Turabian Stylevan den Hurk, Lori, Sarah Hiltner, and Sabine Oertelt-Prigione. 2022. "Operationalization and Reporting Practices in Manuscripts Addressing Gender Differences in Biomedical Research: A Cross-Sectional Bibliographical Study" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 21: 14299. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114299