This qualitative study focuses on self‐medication with antibiotics as it relates to gender roles and traditions in the Arab society in Israel, a collectivist minority with defined traditional gender norms. Its findings draw on the analysis of 116 face‐to‐face interviews with 60 pharmacists, 27 primary care physicians and 29 community members, mainly mothers and unmarried women, from different geographical localities. The findings describe how mothers are assigned the role of the family health caretakers, expected to abide to a hierarchical power structure, and listen to the advice of ‘senior mothers’. These expectations can lead to mothers self‐medicating their children and themselves with antibiotics. Traditional constraints associated with sexuality were also found to compel unmarried women to self‐medicate. The findings point to a duality of power in family relations: women submit to having limited power in traditional gender roles but are accorded power as medical experts in health‐care decision‐making. The study concludes with recommendations for considering sociocultural factors of hierarchy, traditions and collectivist orientation when researching self‐care patterns and developing interventions to curtail antibiotics overuse. It also points to the importance of recognising pressures exerted on unmarried women and enabling them to use health‐care resources in their community for managing sexual health.

中文翻译：

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“Nesef Doctora”——当母亲被认为是“半医生”时：以色列阿拉伯社会中使用抗生素和性别角色的自我药疗

这项定性研究侧重于使用抗生素进行自我治疗，因为它与以色列阿拉伯社会的性别角色和传统有关，以色列是一个具有明确传统性别规范的集体主义少数群体。其研究结果基于对来自不同地域的 60 名药剂师、27 名初级保健医生和 29 名社区成员（主要是母亲和未婚妇女）进行的 116 次面对面访谈的分析。调查结果描述了母亲如何被分配到家庭保健的角色，期望遵守等级权力结构，并听取“资深母亲”的建议。这些期望可能会导致母亲用抗生素对孩子和自己进行自我治疗。与性相关的传统限制也被发现迫使未婚女性自我治疗。研究结果表明家庭关系中存在双重权力：女性在传统的性别角色中屈从于有限的权力，但在医疗保健决策中被赋予了医学专家的权力。该研究最后提出了在研究自我保健模式和制定干预措施以减少抗生素过度使用时考虑等级、传统和集体主义取向等社会文化因素的建议。它还指出了认识到施加在未婚妇女身上的压力并使她们能够利用社区中的卫生保健资源来管理性健康的重要性。该研究最后提出了在研究自我保健模式和制定干预措施以减少抗生素过度使用时考虑等级、传统和集体主义取向等社会文化因素的建议。它还指出了认识到施加在未婚妇女身上的压力并使她们能够利用社区中的卫生保健资源来管理性健康的重要性。该研究最后提出了在研究自我保健模式和制定干预措施以减少抗生素过度使用时考虑等级、传统和集体主义取向等社会文化因素的建议。它还指出了认识到施加在未婚妇女身上的压力并使她们能够利用社区中的卫生保健资源来管理性健康的重要性。