Open AccessWorkplace Sexual Harassment in Two General Hospitals in Taiwan: The Incidence, Perception, and Gender Differences
Author(s) -
Wang LiangJen,
Chen ChihKen,
Sheng YiChen,
Lu PeiWen,
Chen YiTing,
Chen HueiJun,
Lin JyhSheng
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of occupational health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 59
ISSN - 1348-9585
DOI - 10.1539/joh.11-0063-fs
Subject(s) - harassment , incidence (geometry) , medicine , perception , demography , population , significant difference , general hospital , psychology , family medicine , nursing , environmental health , physics , neuroscience , sociology , optics
Workplace Sexual Harassment in Two General Hospitals in Taiwan: The Incidence, Perception, and Gender Differences: Liang‐Jen WANG, et al . Department of Psychiatry, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Keelung, Taiwan—Objectives The aims of this study were to examine sexual harassment (SH) among hospital staffs in Taiwan, in terms of three‐month incidence rate, the frequency of each type and the perception of SH, perpetrated by coworkers, patients and patients' families and to investigate the gender differences for these issues. Methods The subjects were employees at two general hospitals in Taiwan. The self‐administered “Hospital Sexual Harassment Questionnaire” was sent to eligible staff, and the voluntary respondents answered the questionnaire anonymously. There were 536 respondents available for analysis, with an overall response rate of 43.4%. Results The three‐month incidence rates of SH by coworkers, patients, and patients' families in our study population were 2.4, 4.3, and 1.7%, respectively. Telling sexual jokes was the most common type of SH. The males had greater opportunities to be exposed to porn videos by their coworkers. The females were more frequently exposed to sex jokes and remarks made by patients and their family members and unwanted physical touching by patients in the workplace. There were significant differences with regard to the perception of sex jokes and sexually explicit verbal descriptions as SH or not between genders. Conclusions The information in this study can be a helpful reference for administrators in hospitals when they are establishing education plans and policies. It might be possible to prevent sexual harassment and misunderstandings between genders and to further avoid the negative impact on the emotional well‐being of workers in hospitals.