IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v191y2017icp134-142.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does gender matter? An analysis of men's and women's accounts of responding to symptoms of lung cancer

Author

Listed:
  • MacLean, Alice
  • Hunt, Kate
  • Smith, Sarah
  • Wyke, Sally

Abstract

Men are often portrayed - in research studies, ‘common-sense’ accounts and popular media - as reluctant users of health services. They are said to avoid going to the GP whenever possible, while women are portrayed, in presumed opposition, as consulting more readily, more frequently and with less serious complaints. Such stereotypes may inadvertently encourage doctors to pay greater heed to men's symptoms in ‘routine’ consultations. Although previous research has challenged this view with evidence, and suggested that links between gender identities and help-seeking are complex and fluid, gender comparative studies remain uncommon, and particularly few studies (either qualitative or quantitative) compare men and women with similar morbidity. We contribute here to gender comparative research on help-seeking by investigating men's and women's accounts of responding to symptoms later diagnosed as lung cancer. A secondary analysis of qualitative interviews with 27 men and 18 women attending Scottish cancer centres revealed striking similarities between men's and women's accounts. Participants were seen as negotiating a complex and delicate balance in constructing their moral integrity as, on the one hand, responsible service users who were conscious of the demands on health care professionals' time, and as patients who did not take undue risks with their health, in the context of an illness for which people are often held culpable, on the other. In accounting for their responses to symptoms, men and women drew equally on culturally-embedded moral frameworks of stoicism and responsible service use. Regardless of gender, the accounts portrayed participants as stoic in response to illness and responsible service users; and as people seeking explanations for bodily changes and taking appropriate and timely action. Our analysis challenges simplistic, 'common-sense' views of gendered help-seeking and highlights that both men and women need support to consult their doctor for investigation of significant or concerning bodily changes.

Suggested Citation

  • MacLean, Alice & Hunt, Kate & Smith, Sarah & Wyke, Sally, 2017. "Does gender matter? An analysis of men's and women's accounts of responding to symptoms of lung cancer," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 134-142.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:191:y:2017:i:c:p:134-142
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.09.015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795361730549X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.09.015?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schoenberg, Nancy E. & Peters, Jane C. & Drew, Elaine M., 2003. "Unraveling the mysteries of timing: women's perceptions about time to treatment for cardiac symptoms," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 271-284, January.
    2. Courtenay, Will H., 2000. "Constructions of masculinity and their influence on men's well-being: a theory of gender and health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 50(10), pages 1385-1401, May.
    3. O'Brien, Rosaleen & Hunt, Kate & Hart, Graham, 2005. "'It's caveman stuff, but that is to a certain extent how guys still operate': men's accounts of masculinity and help seeking," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 503-516, August.
    4. Llanwarne, Nadia & Newbould, Jennifer & Burt, Jenni & Campbell, John L. & Roland, Martin, 2017. "Wasting the doctor's time? A video-elicitation interview study with patients in primary care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 113-122.
    5. Galdas, Paul M. & Johnson, Joy L. & Percy, Myra E. & Ratner, Pamela A., 2010. "Help seeking for cardiac symptoms: Beyond the masculine-feminine binary," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 18-24, July.
    6. Corner, Jessica & Hopkinson, Jane & Roffe, Liz, 2006. "Experience of health changes and reasons for delay in seeking care: A UK study of the months prior to the diagnosis of lung cancer," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(6), pages 1381-1391, March.
    7. Arber, Sara & McKinlay, John & Adams, Ann & Marceau, Lisa & Link, Carol & O'Donnell, Amy, 2006. "Patient characteristics and inequalities in doctors' diagnostic and management strategies relating to CHD: A video-simulation experiment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 103-115, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Macdonald, Sara & Conway, Elaine & Bikker, Annemieke & Browne, Susan & Robb, Kathryn & Campbell, Christine & Steele, Robert JC. & Weller, David & Macleod, Una, 2019. "Making sense of bodily sensations: Do shared cancer narratives influence symptom appraisal?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 31-39.
    2. Smit, Anri & Coetzee, Bronwynè Jo’sean & Roomaney, Rizwana & Bradshaw, Melissa & Swartz, Leslie, 2019. "Women's stories of living with breast cancer: A systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 231-245.
    3. Oksuzyan, Anna & Dańko, Maciej J. & Caputo, Jennifer & Jasilionis, Domantas & Shkolnikov, Vladimir M., 2019. "Is the story about sensitive women and stoical men true? Gender differences in health after adjustment for reporting behavior," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 41-50.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Backhans, Mona C. & Lundberg, Michael & Månsdotter, Anna, 2007. "Does increased gender equality lead to a convergence of health outcomes for men and women? A study of Swedish municipalities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(9), pages 1892-1903, May.
    2. Green, Gill & Emslie, Carol & O'Neill, Dan & Hunt, Kate & Walker, Steven, 2010. "Exploring the ambiguities of masculinity in accounts of emotional distress in the military among young ex-servicemen," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(8), pages 1480-1488, October.
    3. Lohan, Maria, 2007. "How might we understand men's health better? Integrating explanations from critical studies on men and inequalities in health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 493-504, August.
    4. Cleary, Anne, 2012. "Suicidal action, emotional expression, and the performance of masculinities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(4), pages 498-505.
    5. Macdonald, Sara & Conway, Elaine & Bikker, Annemieke & Browne, Susan & Robb, Kathryn & Campbell, Christine & Steele, Robert JC. & Weller, David & Macleod, Una, 2019. "Making sense of bodily sensations: Do shared cancer narratives influence symptom appraisal?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 31-39.
    6. Oliffe, John L. & Broom, Alex & Rossnagel, Emma & Kelly, Mary T. & Affleck, William & Rice, Simon M., 2020. "Help-seeking prior to male suicide: Bereaved men perspectives," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    7. Andrea Cabezas-Rodríguez & Amaia Bacigalupe & Unai Martín, 2020. "Diagnosis and Treatment of Depression in Spain: Are There Gender Inequalities?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-10, December.
    8. Emslie, Carol & Hunt, Kate, 2008. "The weaker sex? Exploring lay understandings of gender differences in life expectancy: A qualitative study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(5), pages 808-816, September.
    9. Emslie, Carol & Ridge, Damien & Ziebland, Sue & Hunt, Kate, 2006. "Men's accounts of depression: Reconstructing or resisting hegemonic masculinity?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(9), pages 2246-2257, May.
    10. Turner, Rachel A. & Szaboova, Lucy & Williams, Gwynedd, 2018. "Constraints to healthcare access among commercial fishers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 10-19.
    11. Ilyas Sagar-Ouriaghli & Emma Godfrey & Selina Graham & June S. L. Brown, 2020. "Improving Mental Health Help-Seeking Behaviours for Male Students: A Framework for Developing a Complex Intervention," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-34, July.
    12. Chatwin, John & Kennedy, Anne & Firth, Adam & Povey, Andrew & Rogers, Anne & Sanders, Caroline, 2014. "How potentially serious symptom changes are talked about and managed in COPD clinical review consultations: A micro-analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 120-136.
    13. Sánchez-Sandoval, Yolanda & Aragón, Claudia & Verdugo, Laura, 2022. "Future expectations of adolescents in Residential Care: The role of self-perceptions," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    14. Pollitt, Amanda M. & Donnelly, Rachel & Mernitz, Sara E. & Umberson, Debra, 2020. "Differences in how spouses influence each other's alcohol use in same- and different-sex marriages: A daily diary study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    15. Melander, Stina, 2023. "Different logics of pain: the gendered dimension of chronic pain in a relational setting," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    16. Wiklund, Maria & Bengs, Carita & Malmgren-Olsson, Eva-Britt & Öhman, Ann, 2010. "Young women facing multiple and intersecting stressors of modernity, gender orders and youth," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(9), pages 1567-1575, November.
    17. Parker, Rhiannon & Larkin, Theresa & Cockburn, Jon, 2017. "A visual analysis of gender bias in contemporary anatomy textbooks," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 106-113.
    18. Michelle Calvarese, 2015. "The Effect of Gender on Stress Factors: An Exploratory Study among University Students," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-8, November.
    19. Oliffe, John, 2005. "Constructions of masculinity following prostatectomy-induced impotence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(10), pages 2249-2259, May.
    20. Huang, Nicole & Chou, Yiing-Jenq & Hu, Hsiao-Yun & Lee, Cheng-Hua, 2013. "Gender disparities in AMI management and outcomes among health professionals, their relatives, and non-health professionals in Taiwan from 1997 to 2007," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 70-74.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:191:y:2017:i:c:p:134-142. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.