The health care system can be off-putting when providers make assumptions that their patients are heterosexual. Due to the stigma attached to being gay, some lesbians avoid health services where their sexual orientation will be revealed, such as in small towns or in situations where home care services are needed. As the primary caregivers in the family, women often use the health system to acquire knowledge about their family members' health, as well as their own. Women are also typically in charge of nutrition in the family, and therefore, require more information on healthy eating, food allergies and nutritional requirements. Women's participation in information technology may be limited by financial resources or family responsibilities.
Women also work more hours than men when paid and unpaid work are combined.
Men and women may have different approaches to learning, methods of obtaining information, and responsiveness to presentation formats. Women have particular concerns over the privacy and accessibility of medical records due to court-ordered access to personal and confidential records in sexual assault proceedings. The main danger young people see in being sexually active is pregnancy, not STDs. There is no guaranteed cure for HPV infection. Whether condoms are used depends on many factors including how easy they are to get, beliefs about the consequences of not using protection, how peers view the matter, and perceptions of how much power each person has in the relationship.