Breaking the Silence: Unveiling Workplace Violence and Sexual Harassment of European Dental Hygienists

This study aimed to develop a questionnaire for assessing the prevalence of workplace violence, specifically physical violence, verbal violence, and sexual harassment, among European dental hygienists. Additionally, it aimed to explore the association between sociodemographic and professional variables and the prevalence of workplace violence.

A three-section questionnaire was designed to evaluate workplace violence prevalence and underwent face and content validation processes. A non-probabilistic sample was gathered by administering an online questionnaire to members of dental hygiene professional associations affiliated with the European Dental Hygiene Federation.

Face validity obtained positive feedback, and the content validity index was 0.98. A total of 215 individuals from 13 European countries participated in the study. Workplace violence was reported by 80% of respondents, with 23.7% reporting physical violence, 72.1% reporting verbal violence, and 45.6% reporting sexual harassment at least once in their careers. Statistically significant associations were observed between educational level and verbal violence (p = 0.036), country of practice and verbal violence (p = 0.017), years of practice and overall workplace violence (p = 0.030), type of practice and verbal violence (p = 0.023), and working conditions and sexual harassment (p = 0.030). Sociodemographic and professional variables did not demonstrate significant differences in workplace violence prevalence across different countries.

The questionnaire serves as a preliminary assessment tool, but additional psychometric properties should be evaluated. Verbal violence was the most prevalent type, followed by sexual harassment and physical violence. Limited variations were found across countries.