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Understanding Gender Biases and Differences in Web-Based Reviews of Sanctioned Physicians Through a Machine Learning
Julia Barnett1, Margrét Vilborg Bjarnadóttir2, David Anderson3
1Technology and Social Behavior, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States.
JMIR Formative Research
|September 8, 2022
Summary
Patient reviews of physicians show gender bias. Female doctors receive harsher online criticism, especially when facing sanctions, unlike their male counterparts who still receive positive reviews.
Area of Science:
- Medical informatics
- Health services research
- Gender studies
Background:
- Existing research indicates gender disparities in online physician reviews.
- No prior studies have correlated patient-generated web ratings with objective measures of physician quality.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare consumer perceptions (web ratings) with clinical quality outcomes (sanctions).
- To investigate how patient evaluations of physicians vary based on physician gender.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of data from a major physician review website and the Federation of State Medical Boards.
- Utilized paragraph vector methods to identify gender-specific language in reviews.
- Applied the NRC Word-Emotion Association Lexicon to assess review sentiment and emotion by gender and sanction status.
Main Results:
- Significant differences in review sentiment and emotion were found between male and female physicians.
- Sanctioned female physicians received lower numerical ratings and more negative textual reviews compared to sanctioned male physicians.
- Sanctioned male physicians, surprisingly, were still associated with positive online reviews.
Conclusions:
- Online reviews significantly influence patient choice and physician demand.
- Understanding gender-based differences in online reviews is crucial for consumers and healthcare platforms.
- Platform architects may need to reconsider review system designs to mitigate potential gender bias.
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