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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sociol.
Sec. Medical Sociology
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2024.1491948

Using the knife to build the trust?: The Role of Trust in the Decision-Making Process of Aesthetic Surgeons and Women Patients/Clients

Provisionally accepted
Michaela Honelová Michaela Honelová 1*Peta Cook Peta Cook 2Lucie Vidovicóvá Lucie Vidovicóvá 1
  • 1 Charles University, Prague, Czechia
  • 2 University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Trust is a fundamental element in decision-making processes. In medicine, trust also helps to build relationships between patients/clients and doctors (aesthetic surgeons) and will influence a woman's decision to undergo aesthetic/cosmetic surgery. Patients/clients, as well as aesthetic surgeons, use different ways to build trust. Our analyses are based on fifteen qualitative interviews with aesthetic surgeons, fifteen qualitative interviews with women who have undergone or are planning to undergo aesthetic surgery procedure(s) and non-participatory observations at the clinic of aesthetic surgery in the Czech Republic. Based on our analysis, three levels of trust were identified: macro level: trust in medicine as a social institution; meso level: a priori trust to the aesthetic surgeon; and micro level: trust in aesthetic surgeon and/or other medical staff in the process of medical aesthetic encounters. These results call for further studies outside of primary care and a deeper understanding of how these 'voluntary' medical specialties work and influence patients/clients and their 'treatment'.

    Keywords: Aesthetic Surgery, cosmetic surgery, Medical encounter, aesthetic encounter, gender, Trust, decision-making, Czech Republic

    Received: 05 Sep 2024; Accepted: 18 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Honelová, Cook and Vidovicóvá. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Michaela Honelová, Charles University, Prague, Czechia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.