Sexism in Mental Health Professionals: A Social Psychological Risk Factor for Detecting Gender Inequality

Abstract

Abstract
Some organizations recommend that healthcare professionals overcome their own sexist beliefs and emphasize the importance of dealing with gender inequality. Thus, this study focused on: (1) find out the levels of ambivalent sexism in a network of mental health professionals in Spain, (2) analyze the association between sexism, sociodemographic characteristics and gender perspective, and (3) study the association between sexism and gender inequality detection during clinical attention. The sample was comprised of 449 mental health professionals who filled in the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory and another ad hoc questionnaire developed. Variables were compared by nonparametric analysis. The data showed low levels of sexism in the sample, and that the professionals who obtained lower levels of sexism found more problems related to gender inequality during clinical attention. The results underline the importance of intervention for reducing sexism of professionals in order to contribute to a more unbiased detection of problems of gender inequality.