Workplace sexual harassment toward male nurses in South Korea: a cross-sectional online survey

Abstract

Background Many studies have focused on sexual harassment of female nurses perpetrated by patients and coworkers. However, as males in a female-dominated occupation, male nurses are also at risk of being exposed to sexual harassment. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of workplace sexual harassment faced by male nurses in South Korea and to identify related factors. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online survey that recruited male nurses working in various general hospitals in South Korea. In total, 246 participants with at least 6 months of clinical experience enrolled in an online survey, and 155 male nurses were included in the final analysis. Data were collected from May 31, 2019 to July 26, 2020. Items on the questionnaire included sexual harassment experiences, nursing work environment, and general characteristics of the participants. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze participants’ general characteristics and a negative binomial regression model was used to analyze predictors of workplace sexual harassment. Results The mean number of sexual harassment incidents was 3.2 ± 5.5. The majority (65.2%) of male nurses had experienced sexual harassment at least once at work. The negative binomial regression model in the study was found to be acceptable (likelihood ratio chi-square = 30.03, df = 18, p = .037). The perceived nursing work environment was the only significant predictor of sexual harassment towards male nurses (p = .001; incidence rate ratio = 0.37; 95% CI, 0.20–0.66). Conclusions Nursing administrators must recognize that men in female-dominated occupation may experience sexual harassment in the workplace. Specific and realistic managerial policies and educational programs should be implemented to prevent workplace sexual harassment and improve the nursing work environment for male nurses.

Prevalence and predictors of workplace sexual harassment of nurses in the Central Region of Ghana: a cross-sectional online survey

“…Perhaps, nurses need sexual harassment education. Although comparing the prevalence of sexual harassment among different studies and countries could be misleading due to various contextual factors,32 39 our findings suggest that the prevalence of workplace sexual harassment against nurses in the Central Region is unacceptably high. This calls for further and comprehensive studies on the phenomenon and the implementation of antisexual harassment policies in the healthcare sector to help reduce the occurrence of sexual harassment against nurses in the region.…”

The myth of equality: Sexual harassment behind a woman’s desk

“…Research (Jeong & Chang, 2022) reveals that harassment does not only occur to women but also to men. The findings reveal a sexual prevalence of harassment, with 65.2% of male nurses having experienced sexual experience harassment at least once during the past six months at their workplace.…”

“…Passive responses about sexual harassment also happened to the male victim. Jung's findings (Jeong & Chang, 2022) revealed that more than half of the male nurses remained passive in sexual response harassment, "laughing at it" (32.3%), "not expressing anything" (12.5%), and "avoiding the situation" (9.4%), while 15.6% of respondents actively responded and expressed displeasure. In addition, most male nurses (91.1%) did not report SH incidents, with the most frequent reason for not reporting (58.9%) being that they did not expect reporting to result in any change.…”

“…Several studies have investigated sexual harassment at work for decades. However, male victims receive less attention than female victims despite the damage caused by sexual harassment, regardless of the gender of the victim (Jeong & Chang, 2022).…”

Yonder: Parkinson’s spouses, weight-loss surgery, pension participation, and male nurses

“…As males in a femaledominated occupation, male nurses are at risk of being exposed to sexual harassment and a recent study from South Korea sought to examine the prevalence of workplace sexual harassment faced by male nurses in South Korea and to identify related factors. 4 Based on an online survey, they found that 65.2% of male nurses had experienced sexual harassment at least once during the past 6 months at their workplace. Mistreatment because of gender, repeated sexual stories or jokes, and comments about appearance were the most frequent forms of harassment experienced.…”