Key messages
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Education and training for healthcare workers about sexual harassment probably increases sexual harassment knowledge slightly and may increase sexual harassment management skills slightly compared to another type of sexual harassment education or training.
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No studies compared the effect of education and training about sexual harassment with no education and training, being on a waitlist, or minimal education such as an information leaflet. This topic warrants further study.
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Future studies are also needed that include a wider range of healthcare workers and that look at potential harms of education and training about sexual harassment.
What is sexual harassment, and why and how should it be prevented?
Sexual harassment in the workplace includes any kind of unwelcome sexual attention from a patient/client, their friend/s, family member/s, other professional/s or colleague/s. It is common towards healthcare workers, with roughly 12% reporting being sexually harassed by patients and visitors. Healthcare workers can experience poor mental health and job dissatisfaction, and may even leave their job or the workforce, as a result of being sexually harassed.
Preventing sexual harassment against healthcare workers is therefore important. Education and training interventions about sexual harassment may have different focus areas. One approach is to raise awareness or increase knowledge about sexual harassment. Another is to learn about strategies to prevent it, or training on actions against it. Training and education can be in-person, digital, or a combination of the two. The instructors may include peers, leaders, or trained professionals, either formally or informally.
What did we want to find out?
We wanted to find out if education and training could increase knowledge and management skills about sexual harassment. We also looked at the rate of occurrence of sexual harassment; harms such as anxiety, depression, burnout, sick leave, staff turnover, and disability; and considered how the healthcare worker felt about their workplace related to sexual harassment.
What did we do?
We searched for studies comparing education and training about sexual harassment with:
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no education and training, being on a waitlist, or minimal education such as an information leaflet; or
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another type of education or training about sexual harassment.
We compared and summarised the results of the studies and rated our confidence in the evidence based on factors such as study methods and sizes.
What did we find?
We found no studies comparing education and training about sexual harassment with no education and training, being on a waitlist, or minimal education such as an information leaflet.
We found two studies comparing education and training about sexual harassment with another type of education or training about sexual harassment. Both studies were from Taiwan and included a total of 170 nurses, mainly young women with little work experience. One group of nurses received in-person training and an interactive education computer program. The nurses in the comparison group received education only via a brochure and video.
Education and training about sexual harassment:
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probably slightly increases sexual harassment prevention knowledge ('sexual harassment prevention'; 2 studies, 168 people); and
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may slightly improve nurses' management skills ('coping behaviour' (2 studies, 168 people) and 'prevention strategy' (2 studies, 168 people)).
No study looked at the rate of occurrence of sexual harassment; harms such as anxiety, depression, burnout, sick leave, staff turnover, and disability; or considered how the healthcare worker felt about their workplace related to sexual harassment.
What are the limitations of the evidence?
Our confidence in the evidence is moderate to low, mainly because we found only two studies including small numbers of people.
Future studies are needed that include a wider range of healthcare workers and that look at potential harms of education and training about sexual harassment. Also, future studies could compare education and training about sexual harassment versus no education and training, being on a waitlist, or minimal education such as an information leaflet.
How up to date is this evidence?
The evidence is current to March 2025.
อ่านบทคัดย่อฉบับเต็ม
วัตถุประสงค์
To assess the effectiveness of education and training interventions on knowledge and skills for managing sexual harassment, and to assess their impact on the incidence of sexual harassment towards healthcare workers in healthcare settings.
วิธีการสืบค้น
We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, AMED, CINAHL, Scopus, ClinicalTrials.gov, and the WHO ICTRP, together with reference checking and contact with study authors, to identify eligible studies. The latest search date was March 2025.
ข้อสรุปของผู้วิจัย
Healthcare workers may benefit from education and training compared to another type of education and training. The benefits were modest and were measured as increased knowledge ('sexual harassment prevention') and management skills ('coping behaviour' and 'prevention strategy'). The certainty of the evidence is moderate to low, and future studies could make the findings more robust. There is a need for future studies investigating other types of outcomes such as anxiety, depression, burnout, sick leave, staff turnover, disability, and perception of the organisational climate related to harassment. It would also be valuable to assess a wider range of healthcare workers, as we only found studies in nurses.
No studies addressed the effects of education and training compared to control groups (no intervention, waiting list, placebo, or minimal intervention).
The decision to offer sexual harassment education and training to healthcare workers is supported by the existing evidence. However, other contextual factors may also be considered, as well as healthcare workers' preferences to participate in educational activities.
แหล่งทุน
This Cochrane review had no dedicated funding.
การลงทะเบียน
Registration: Cochrane Collaboration, 19th of December 2023. Title: Education and training interventions for health care workers to prevent sexual harassment. Identification number: EMID:9ba735d2b5367171. Authors: Therese K Dalsbø, Rakel Aasheim Greve, Ingrid L Jørgensen, Marita S Fønhus.
Protocol: Published on the 6th of February 2025 available via Cochrane Library at https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD016096
