1Assistant Professor, The Aga Khan University School of Nursing and Midwifery
2Professor, The Aga Khan University, School of Nursing and Midwifery, & Community Health Sciences
3Professor and Perry Chair, Texas Women University of Houston
4Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, The Aga Khan University
5aAssistant Professor, The Aga Khan University School of Nursing and Midwifery
5bPhD Student, University of Alberta, Canada
*Corresponding author: Rozina Somani, Senior Instructor, The Aga Khan University School of Nursing and Midwifery, 113 Ground Floor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, The Aga Khan University, Hospital, Stadium Road, Karachi, Pakistan, 74800. Email ID: rozina.somani@aku.edu
Online published on 17 April, 2015.
Sexual harassment towards nurses has negative consequences, both for the nurses and for the health care organizations. Female nurses are more at risk for sexual violence because their caring attitude is misperceived by male patients as sexual signals. This study aimed to explore the prevalence of sexual harassment towards nurses.
A descriptive Cross-sectional study was conducted with 458 registered nurses from all the In-patient units and the Emergency departments of two government and two private healthcare Settings in Karachi, Pakistan. The data was collected through a tool known as “workplace violence in the health sector country case studies research instrument” (2003).
The study found 10% prevalence of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment was almost the same at both the government and private healthcare Settings. The common perpetrators were found to be patients’ relatives (47.8%) and the staff members (32.6%). Nurses, who were between 19 and 29 years of age, were mostly the victims of sexual harassment.
Considering the study findings, it is recommended that acceptable and non-acceptable behaviors for patients and their relatives must be communicated very clearly in the hospitals, so that they may get aware of and practice acceptable behaviors. Moreover, a structured reporting system should be formulated in the private and government health care organizations.
Sexual harassment, Verbal sexual abuse, Physical sexual abuse, Healthcare Settings, Nurses
