Research

 Reproductive Healthcare Inequity & Healthcare Provider Biases

Various disparities in sexual and reproductive healthcare and treatment exist in the United States, particularly among individuals from marginalized and underserved groups. One driver of these inequities are healthcare providers' biases and attitudes, which lead to disparities in care provided.

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Overall, I am curious about the role that healthcare providers' attitudes and biases play in the healthcare they provide, and how their views contribute to health inequity. My dissertation explored healthcare professional students' (e.g., medical students, physician assistant students) biases and stigmatizing attitudes related to race, HIV, and abortion impact how their prioritize various aspects of prenatal care for patients. Though my primary hypotheses were not supported, we are still digging into the data to see what secondary analyses may be interesting.

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Abortion Misinformation and Stigma

Abortion is often at the forefront of political debate and constantly a highly-charged, hot button topic. The volatile nature of the abortion debate has bred misinformation surrounding abortion, including inaccurate ideas about the consequences of abortion, abortion procedures, abortion rates, etc. I have conducted numerous online studies assessing the misinformation believed by adults in the United States. Examining misinformation is important, as it may lead to beliefs about abortion, voting behaviors, or even decisions to have an abortion. Early findings from my data show that abortion misinformation is connected to abortion stigma. Abortion stigma refers to the negative attitudes and stereotypes about people who have abortions; they are bad women, bad mothers, sinful, immoral, unclean. These negative attitudes and stereotypes serve to punish people for having abortions, and to stop others from seeking abortions.  Determining factors, like abortion misinformation, which may lead to abortion stigma is imperative, as abortion stigma leads to negative outcomes, like depression, anxiety, social isolation, and negative physical health outcomes for people who have abortions. 

I have recently branched out into research related to tobacco and nicotine use and the associated stigma. Although some have posited that stigma may lead individuals who smoke to want tp quit, much research suggests a backfire effect, wherein individuals who experience more smoking-related stigma are more likely to report quit intentions, but are less likely to actually attempt to quit.

 

I have aided in the development of and oversaw a project on cigarette use among sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals. I wanted to know how smoking-related stigma impacted outcomes among individuals who are already marginalized and oppressed. These data are currently being analyzed, and publications are forthcoming.

I began graduate school with a desire to study gender-related inequities across multiple topics and settings. As such, I have various projects related to gender inequity, transphobia, cissexism, and sexism.

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One project explored individuals' use of the correct pronouns for transgender individuals. I addressed barriers to respectful, correct pronoun use (e.g., using "she/her" pronouns for a transgender woman instead of "he/him"). This paper found that individuals reported that using individuals' correct pronouns was difficult, and would be easier if there were rules about pronoun use. Also, unsurprisingly, individuals with more negative attitudes towards transgender and nonbinary people reported increased difficulty using correct pronouns. This work provided a clear cut picture of personal characteristics, like bias, that lead people to misgender transgender folks.

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A recent project explored perceptions of gender-neutral bathrooms among college students. College students were randomly assigned to view the sign for either a gender-inclusive restroom or a gender-segregated restroom, then responded to questions about the qualities of the bathroom in question. Data are undergoing analysis now. This work is timely, given the number of legal cases in the U.S. about restroom use for transgender and nonbinary individuals, as well as the importance and potential safety of gender-neutral bathrooms.

White, A.M, Patev, A.J., Imran, R., Goden, A., Rudy, A., Bajwa, H… & Barnes, A.J. (In press). Health-related benefits of quitting and testimonials from people who formerly smoked may help African American/Black individuals that use menthol cigarettes quit: Implications for flavor bans. Accepted to Nicotine and Tobacco Research.

 

Wall, C.S.J., Patev, A.J., & Benotsch, E.G. (2023). “The doctor said my illness was related to my HRT”: A mixed-methods approach to understanding experiences of trans broken arm syndrome. Submitted to Social Science and Medicine.

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Patev, A.J., & Hood, K.B. (2020). Towards a Better Understanding of Abortion Misinformation: A Conceptual Review of the Literature. Culture, Health, and Sexuality. doi: 10.1080/13691058.2019.1706001 

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Patev, A.J. (2020). When ‘safe’ isn’t safe: Reflecting on the role of science in the production of harmful discourses of HIV/AIDS. In A. Pozorski, J.J. Lavoie, & C. Cynn (Eds.), Literary and Visual Representations of HIV/AIDS: 40 Years Later (pp. 125-143). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Hood, K.B., Hall, C.J., Owens, B.D., Patev, A.J., & Belgrave, F.Z. (2020). HIV testing behaviors among Black rural women: The moderating role of conspiracy beliefs and partner status disclosure. Ethnicity & Disease, 30(2), 1 – 10. doi: 10.18865/ed.30.2.251

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Patev, A.J., Hall, C.J., Dunn, C.E., Bell, A.B, Owens, B.D., & Hood, K.B. (2019). Hostile sexism and right-wing authoritarianism as mediators of the relationship between sexual disgust and abortion stigmatizing attitudes. Personality and Individual Differences, 151, 109528. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2019.109528

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Patev, A.J., Hood, K.B., & Hall, C.J. (2019). The Interacting Roles of Abortion Stigma and Gender on Attitudes toward Abortion Legality. Personality and Individual Differences, 146(1), 87 – 92. doi: j.paid.2019.04.005