Exploring female otolaryngologists’ experiences with gender bias and microaggressions: a cross sectional Canadian survey

Table 5 Analysis of the seven domains of Sexist Microaggressions Experiences and Stress Scale (Sexist MESS) with the demographic factor of Attending versus Trainee

	Sexist microaggressions experiences and stress scale (Sexist MESS)
	Frequency	P value	Severity	P value	Total	P value
Domains (no of questions)
Leaving gender at the door (4)
Attending	6.0 ± 3.2	0.50	5.3 ± 3.4	0.70	11.4 ± 6.2	0.96
Trainee	6.6 ± 3.0		4.9 ± 2.9		11.5 ± 5.6
Sexual objectification (8)
Attending	7.7 ± 5.2	0.04*	5.3 ± 4.0	0.02*	13.2 ± 7.6	0.02*
Trainee	10.3 ± 4.1		8.2 ± 5.2		18.6 ± 8.1
Environmental invalidations (4)
Attending	5.9 ± 2.6	0.71	3.6 ± 2.5	0.41	9.6 ± 4.3	0.52
Trainee	6.2 ± 2.7		4.3 ± 3.1		10.5 ± 5.3
Invalidation of the reality of women (10)
Attending	10.0 ± 6.8	0.17	10.5 ± 7.9	0.34	21.5 ± 13.7	0.33
Trainee	12.6 ± 6.4		12.7 ± 7.5		25.2 ± 13.2
Assumptions of traditional gender roles (6)
Attending	7.2 ± 5.1	0.22	4.1 ± 4.2	0.97	11.5 ± 8.7	0.53
Trainee	8.8 ± 4.3		4.1 ± 3.8		12.8 ± 6.5
Expectations of physical appearance (3)
Attending	3.2 ± 2.9	0.24	3.0 ± 2.5	0.73	6.3 ± 4.8	0.37
Trainee	2.4 ± 2.3		2.8 ± 2.9		5.1 ± 5.0
Inferiority (9)
Attending	12.3 ± 8.1	0.80	12.1 ± 7.6	0.97	25.1 ± 14.8	0.72
Trainee	211.8 ± 6.7		12.2 ± 7.3		23.7 ± 13.6

Trainees had higher frequency (p=0.04), severity (p=0.02), and total (p=0.02) MESS scores than attendings in the domain of sexual objectification.
*denoted significance, P < 0.05
Each domain has a different potential score based on the number of question items. The frequency and severity are rated on a Likert scale from 0 to 3, and this is multiplied by the number of question items in the domain. For example, inferiority has 9 questions, so it has a possible range from 0 to 27 points for both frequency and severity. The total MESS score is a summation of frequency and severity, so the inferiority domain’s total MESS score ranges from 0 to 54

ISSN: 1916-0216