Sexual harassment experienced by nurses in a spinal Cord injury rehabilitation center

To assess the prevalence of patient-perpetrated nonverbal, verbal and physical sexual harassment of nurses in a spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation center.

A cross-sectional online survey was administered to all nursing professionals, assistants and students working on the wards of a SCI rehabilitation center from September to November 2024. Patient-perpetrated sexual harassment of nurses was evaluated using the psychometrically sound Sexually Harassing Behavior Questionnaire, which was distributed via email.

The sample consisted of 48 participants from a possible 74, yielding a response rate of 64.9%, and 81.2% of the respondents were women. In total, 87.5% reported experiencing sexual harassment by patients at least once within the past 12 months. Nonverbal, verbal and physical sexual harassment was reported by 62.5%, 87.5%, and 50.0%, respectively. Adjusted analysis confirmed that verbal sexual harassment was more prevalent and severe than nonverbal and physical sexual harassment (global p < 0.0001, both post-hoc p < 0.0001). Sexual harassment was reported by 89.7% of women and 77.8% of men, women tended to report more severe sexual harassment comparatively (coefficient = 0.31, 95% CI: 0.00-0.62, p = 0.052).

Our findings indicate that patient-perpetrated sexual harassment of nurses in a SCI rehabilitation center is common, particularly in its verbal form.