Analysis of Sex and Gender Content in Allied Health Professions' Curricula

Sex and gender differences in rehabilitation are important because more than half of patients seen by allied health professionals are female. Sex- and gender-specific curricula should be audited to enhance interprofessional education in women's health. The research question was: What is the extent of information about sex and gender differences that is included in selected allied health professions curricula? Student scholars from allied health programs audited courses in real time for references to sex and gender differences. The data were analyzed using content analysis. The emphasis of instruction included primarily statements of facts for the physical and occupational therapy programs and brief discussions in the athletic training program. There was a significant difference among the categories of emphasis for the programs (X2 = 391.23, p<0.05). The individual disciplines identified the majority of content in the same rank order: body systems, health statistics, and health conditions. There were significant differences in the content areas related to sex and gender differences among the three disciplines (X2 = 70.67, p<0.05). This study provided the first content analysis of sex and gender differences in selected allied health professions. No textual inferences were made, but the study reported on the topics discussed and the extent of the sharing of information.