Sexual Harassment of Female Providers by Patients: a Qualitative Study. J Gen Intern Med 2020 Oct;35(10):2963-2968
Date
07/24/2020Pubmed ID
32700219Pubmed Central ID
PMC7572907DOI
10.1007/s11606-020-06018-3Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85088430624 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 12 CitationsAbstract
BACKGROUND: Sexual harassment of women is a pervasive problem. Prior studies found that sexual harassment of female providers by patients is common, but guidance on addressing this problem is limited.
OBJECTIVE: To understand the experiences of female providers with sexual harassment by patients with a focus on how practicing providers address these events.
DESIGN: Qualitative study using semi-structured interviews.
PARTICIPANTS: Twenty female, internal medicine providers, including resident physicians, staff physicians, and nurse practitioners at a large, urban, academic hospital in the USA.
APPROACH: Interviews were analyzed for themes.
KEY RESULTS: Two themes were explored: first, the experiences with sexual harassment and, second, the strategies to address sexual harassment. We coded four sub-themes regarding participant experiences: (1) their descriptions of the types of harassment, (2) the context of the event, (3) the impact of the harassment, and (4) their preparation to address the harassment. We coded seven sub-themes on strategies used by participants: (1) indirect strategies, (2) confrontation, (3) modifying the clinical encounter, (4) modifying self, (5) alerting others, (6) debrief, and (7) report.
CONCLUSION: Our qualitative study found that sexual harassment of female providers by patients is an ongoing problem, disruptive to the patient-provider relationship, and a possible threat to the well-being of both provider and patient. Formal training on how to address this problem was lacking, but all providers had developed or adapted strategies based on personal experiences or role modeling. Educating providers on strategies is an important next step to addressing this problem.
Author List
Scholcoff C, Farkas A, Machen JL, Kay C, Nickoloff S, Fletcher KE, Jackson JLAuthors
Amy H. Farkas MD, MS Associate Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of WisconsinKathlyn E. Fletcher MD Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Jeffrey L. Jackson MD Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Cynthia Kay MD Associate Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Sarah Nickoloff MD Associate Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Cecilia Scholcoff MD Associate Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin
MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
FemaleHumans
Nurse Practitioners
Qualitative Research
Sexual Harassment
