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Doctors' attitudes to male homosexuality: a survey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Dinesh Bhugra*
Affiliation:
Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5
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The topic of homosexuality has often aroused strong opinions among the public and professionals alike. In a study organised by the journal Modern Medicine in 1969, 17, 741 physicians in the USA responded to a questionnaire. Of those who stated their speciality, 8% were psychiatrists, 26% general practitioners and 10% general surgeons. Questions sought opinions on abortion, legalisation of marijuana, legalisation of homosexual practice and other topics; 92% of psychiatrists [n 2,041] were in favour of legalising homosexual practices. The three specialities least in favour were general practitioners 59% [n 6,927], general surgeons 59% [n 2,580] and orthopaedic surgeons 58% [n 731]. The sample was self-selected and this may have introduced a respondent bias. The data were collected nearly 20 years ago when homosexuality was still seen as a psychiatric illness in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manuals I and II.

Type
Articles
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989

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