New research shows that it hurts less if a woman asks if it hurts, compared to if a man asks.
The reason may be that women radiate more empathy.
– There are studies that show that women have a higher empathy in the context of pain when they see that others are in pain, says Anna Sellgren Engskov, researcher and specialist doctor in anesthesiology and intensive care.
Pain is common and manifests itself in different ways, depending on what it is and to what extent. Now shows new research from Lund University the connection between pain and gender.
The research results show that both male and female patients experienced less pain if a woman asked if they were in pain – compared to if a man asked, something that Research Be the first to write about.
– We were able to confirm these observations. No one has done a study with such a large and mixed patient material before, says Anna Sellgren Engskov, researcher and specialist doctor in anesthesiology and intensive care.
More empathy in women
But what it really is that separates men from women in this situation is unclear. However, she believes that it may be because women radiate more empathy.
– There are studies that show that women have a higher empathy in the context of pain when they see that others are in pain, says Anna Sellgren Engskov.
Above all, it should be expressed in the so-called silent communication such as smiles and eye contact. In both the experimental and clinical studies, they therefore chose to neutralize the examiners as much as possible in order not to influence the final result.
– We tried to peel away as much as possible so as not to emphasize the female and male aspects of the examiners. We made sure they were wearing hospital clothes and that they read the instructions from a script, she says.
Increased awareness
In the future, Anna Sellgren Engskov hopes that the research can lead to an increased awareness in healthcare – for example, doctors or nurses in a recovery ward. Although in some cases there were small differences between the sexes, she insists that this can primarily be measured at individual patients rather than at group level.
– The difference was actually the biggest in the pain levels where the patients started asking for pain relief. If it happens that the pain suddenly changes, you can start to think about whether it was a man or woman who asked if it hurt before.