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Postgraduate Medical Journal 1999;75:410-413; doi:10.1136/pgmj.75.885.410
Copyright © 1999 The Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine.
Postgrad Med J 1999;75:410-413 ( July )

Sexual harassment of psychiatric trainees: experiences and attitudes

John F Morgana, Sally Porterb

a St George's Hospital Medical School, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 ORE, UK Department of General Psychiatry, b Department of Addictive Behaviour

Accepted 26 January 1999

A survey was carried out of psychiatric trainees' work-related experiences of unwanted sexual contact. A structured postal questionnaire was administered to 100 psychiatric trainees from senior house officer to specialist registrar level in a large psychiatric rotation. There was an 85% response rate; 86% (73) of the sample had experienced unwanted sexual contact, with 47% (40) experiencing deliberate touching, leaning over or cornering, and 18% (15) receiving letters, telephone calls or material of a sexual nature. Three-quarters (64) of respondents had experienced unwanted sexual contact from patients and 64% (54) from staff. Experiences and attitudes did not generally differ by gender, grade or training experience. Four out of 48 female respondents described stalking by patients. Of the 39 respondents who had reported harassment by patients, 31 felt supported by colleagues, while of the 13 who had reported harassment by colleagues, eight felt supported. Two-thirds of the respondents considered sexual harassment `sometimes' or `frequently' a problem for the profession. Diagnoses of confusional states, mania or schizophrenia made subjects less likely to consider unwanted sexual behaviour to be `sexual harassment' (86%, 80%, and 67%, respectively), but not for other diagnoses. Levels of threatening and intrusive sexual harassment are unacceptably high in this study group. Health trusts should adopt policies of `zero tolerance' and all incidents should be reported. Psychological impact on victims should be acknowledged even when the behaviour of the perpetrator can be explained by diagnosis.


Key points

  • psychiatric trainees commonly experience intrusive sexual harassment from patients and sometimes colleagues
  • levels are unacceptably high and Health Trusts should adopt `zero tolerance' policies
  • psychological impact of harassment should not be underestimated, even when a patient's behaviour is explicable by diagnoses of psychosis or confusional states
  • levels of sexual harassment need to be established among other medical specialties, particularly those involving community-based treatments




Keywords: sexual harassment; postgraduate training; psychiatry

© 1999 by The Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine
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