Assessment of gender awareness among healthcare professionals in Ukraine

This study was made possible by the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on behalf of the people of the United States of America and the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund on behalf of the people of the United Kingdom. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of Deloitte Consulting LLC and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the United States Government, UKaid, or the United Kingdom Government and are prepared by Deloitte Consulting LLC under contract No. 72012118C00001.

Numerous foreign studies show that gender awareness of healthcare workers significantly impacts the quality of services provided to patients, as well as on communication and career mobility of healthcare workers. At the same time, there was a lack of generalized data on the level of gender awareness of healthcare workers in Ukraine.

This study was the first representative survey of healthcare professionals on how gender stereotypes and perceptions affect doctor-patient communication.

The study aimed to assess gender awareness among healthcare professionals, including doctors and nurses. Study objectives:

study the prevalence of gender stereotypes among doctors and nurses;
identify how gender stereotypes of healthcare workers are manifested in their interaction with patients;
find out how gender stereotypes influence beliefs about colleagues.

The study also aimed to assess the working conditions and sense of safety in the workplace and the impact of COVID-19 on the workload and distribution of family responsibilities of healthcare workers.

The study involved a combination of quantitative and qualitative sociological data collection methods, with each subsequent study activity building on the results of the previous one.

Stage 1: 16 focus groups with healthcare workers were conducted to study the gender sensitivity of healthcare workers and the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on gender stereotypes of healthcare workers. A total of 93 healthcare workers participated, including 59 women and 34 men.
Stage 2: a quantitative survey of healthcare workers, which was conducted using the method of face-to-face personal interviews. A total of 2031 healthcare workers were interviewed, including 1529 doctors and 502 nurses.
Stage 3: 4 focus groups with healthcare facility managers and opinion leaders to discuss the quantitative survey results and develop recommendations.