Effects of Patient Marital Status and Parental Status on Nurses' Cognitions and Behaviors

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of information aboutfemale patients' marital and parental statuses on nurses' (1) initial impression of patients, (2) interpretations of patient characteristics and behavior, (3) data gathering about patients, and (4) oral responses to patients. Nurses employed full-time on inpatient units were given a written description of a patient who was complaining of a vaginal discharge prior to viewing a videotaped interview of the patient by a nurse. Predicted behaviors did not relate to patient's marital/parental status, but judgments and evaluations made about married and remarried women differed from those made about single women. Data gathering was not influenced by marital and parental statuses of the patient, but oral responses were. The marital status of a woman with a vaginal discharge of unknown etiology affected nurses'oral responses to the patient's comments, often in ways that suggested nurses were using the marital status information toform hypotheses about the patient.