Can Anyone Hear Me? Does Anyone See Me? A Qualitative Meta-Analysis of Women's Experiences of Heart Disease

Question 1

Societal Discourses

Answer 1

Shared ways members of a social community think and talk.

Question 2

Gendered Interpretation of Symptoms

Answer 2

Differences in ways doctors explain symptoms in men and women, especially differences in attributions to psychological vs. physical/medical/biological factors.

Question 3

Grounded Theory

Answer 3

A methodology involving the construction of theories through methodical gathering and analysis of qualitative data.

Question 4

Meta-Analysis

Answer 4

A quantitative, empirical method to systematically assess and combine the results of previous studies to derive conclusions about a body of research.

Question 5

Social Constructivism

Answer 5

A sociological theory of knowledge according to which human development is socially situated and knowledge is constructed through interaction with others.

Question 6

Myocardial Infarction

Answer 6

A condition associated with lack of blood flow to the heart muscle.

Question 7

Summary

Answer 7

It is important for health care professionals to acknowledge the relational and contextual ways that women often use to assess and address their health and build an empowering patient-provider relationship that includes recognizing and acknowledging their efforts. Vogt et al. (2008) tested the effectiveness of a program designed to increase providers’ gender awareness and sensitivity to women’s specific concerns but did not look at the impact of increased awareness on patient satisfaction or outcomes. Patient-centered care approaches have been shown to reduce the amount of readmissions for heart failure (Record et al., 2011).