Exploring gendered patterns of interaction within an inter-professional health care network

BackgroundNumerous studies have shown gender-based similarity affects interactions in organizational contexts. However, studies in the health care arena have shown contradictory findings. ObjectiveTo explore gender homophily in an inter-professional network comprising doctors and nurses across the primary and secondary care interface in diabetes care. MethodsA Social Network Analysis was conducted with primary and secondary care clinicians responsible for diabetes care in Auckland New Zealand. Three different methods were used to test gender affinity in 40 health professionals (GPs, endocrinologist and specialist nurses). First, a metric analysis of homophily ranking corrected for potential differences in gender proportions was conducted. Homophily ranking is scored between -1 (perfect heterophily) and 1 (perfect homophily). We also examined the ego-net composition and measured the density of interactions among men and women in the network. ResultsGender homophily was close to 0, indicated that network members were likely to interact with males and females without preferences, a result that was confirmed through ego-net composition. ConclusionsThis study in diabetes managed care network found little evidence to support the impact of gender homophily on communication exchange. This contrasts with other studies in the health care context. Other influences need to be explored at this context.