More Women Than Men Experience Nonphysical Violence in Health Care Workforce

FRIDAY, July 12, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Women in the health care workforce are more likely to experience verbal abuse, sexual harassment, and bullying, while men are more likely to experience physical violence, according to a study published online July 2 in PLOS Global Public Health.

Sioban Nelson, R.N., Ph.D., from the University of Toronto, and colleagues conducted a scoping review and report on the prevalence and risk factors of gender-based workplace violence (GB-WPV) in health care settings. Data from 226 studies were included in the analysis.

The researchers found that more women than men experienced nonphysical violence, including verbal abuse, sexual harassment, and bullying, across the studies. Compared with women, men experienced more physical violence. Characteristics that were sensitive to gender included younger age, less experience, shifting duties, specific clinical settings, lower professional status, organizational hierarchy, and minority status, which reflected the structural disadvantages of women in the workplace.

“The repercussions of GB-WPV resonate throughout the health care system, resulting in substantial provider attrition, compromised patient care, and an overburdened health care infrastructure struggling to meet the needs of society,” the authors write. “We acknowledge that looking at a single analytical category, such as gender, negates the complex ways in which other social categories influence experiences of WPV.”

Abstract/Full Text