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

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.

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.

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.

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.