“Am I Making More of It Than I Should?": Reporting and Responding to Sexual Harassment

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Health professionals may face sexual harassment from patients, faculty, and colleagues. Medicine’s hierarchy deters response to sexual harassment. Current evidence consists largely of quantitative data regarding the frequency and types of sexual harassment. More information is needed about the nature of the experience and how or why professionals choose to report or respond. Methods: We developed and administered a semistructured interview guide to elicit family medicine faculty and residents’ experiences with sexual harassment and gender bias. Facilitators led a series of focus groups divided by faculty (N=28) and residents (N=24). We ensured voluntary consent and groups were audiotaped, transcribed and deidentified. We coded the transcripts using immersion-crystallization theory to identify emergent themes. Results: Sexual harassment from patients and colleagues was described as witnessed or personally experienced by faculty and resident participants in 100% of the focus groups. Respondents identified the presence of mentors, clear reporting process and follow-up, history of good organizational response to reporting, and education and training as facilitators to reporting sexual harassment. Barriers to reporting included fear of retaliation, lack of trust of the system to respond, lack of clarity about “what counts,” and confusion with the reporting process. Conclusions: It is important to capitalize on facilitators to reporting sexual harassment, starting with acknowledging the frequency of sexual harassment and gender discrimination. Addressing barriers to responding through education and training for our learners and faculty is critical. Clarifying the reporting process, having clear expectations for behavior, and a continuum of responses may help increase the frequency of reporting.

Addressing Sexual Harassment and Gender Bias: Mandatory Modules Are Not Enough

“…Our department of family medicine (FM) found that SH and GB were frequently experienced by most women, yet most were hesitant to report or respond. 1 Respondents cited fear as a barrier on a continuum of interpersonal-level fear of reporting, from being seen as someone who "takes the fun out" of work, to "losing opportunities for career advancement." 1 Respondents' experience of SH and GB is associated with lasting psychological effects that mainly spared the men in our department.…”

Faculty diversity, equity, and inclusion in academic dentistry: Has dental education missed the call of #MeToo?

“…Health professionals may face sexual harassment and gender bias from patients, peers, superiors, or subordinates. Studies show that almost all women physicians have experienced patient‐related harassment and discrimination, and the experiences often go unreported due to training structures, fear of jeopardizing the patient relationship, and confusion about the reporting process 7 . The number of female dental students and faculty in the U.S. dental institutions is on the rise, and therefore, it is important to consider how the #MeToo movement and Title IX intersect with dental education.…”

Sexual harassment of religious Jewish nurses by patients and its relation to the ward's listening climate, care avoidance and quality of nursing care

“…Previous studies called to investigate sociocultural influences on the responses of nurses to sexual harassment by patients (Burke, 2019; Russell et al, 2021; Scholcoff et al, 2020; Ulusoy et al, 2011). Currently, studies that examined this phenomenon among religious women or religious nurses are scant.…”