ABSTRACT
Until recently, researchers in health communication have assumed that the gender of the physician and of the patient had little, if any, impact on the communication interaction between the two parties. Although there is serious concern about sex differences in health care and health research, gender was one of the first variables discarded by researchers studying communication and its relation to health care (Gabbard-Alley, 1995). However, as women have become more involved in health care, both as patients and as health care providers, health communication researchers have begun to focus on the influence of patient and physician gender when people are communicating about illness. The impetus for these studies is most likely the increase in the number of women being trained as physicians. Over 42% of students now entering medical school programs are female, compared to 25% in 1980 and 9% in 1970 (American Medical Association; AMA; 1998). It is projected that by the year 2010, 33% of the physicians in the United States will be fe-male compared to 19% in 1994 (AMA, 1998). Some researchers have been motivated by their concern about possible discrimination toward women in the health care arena. Whatever the motivation, the communication strategies used to communicate about illness have become an important issue for health professionals and communication scholars.
