Sexual Harassment at the Workplace is Still a Hindrance among Midwives and Nurses Working in Northwestern Ethiopia Referral Hospitals: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction

Sexual harassment in the workplace is still the tip of the iceberg among front-line health workers, resulting in a high turnover of professionals, job dissatisfaction, absenteeism, and disharmonized health-care delivery. Research on the magnitude of workplace sexual harassment and factors associated with the workplace among nurses and midwives in Ethiopia is lacking. The study aimed to assess the magnitude and its associated factors among nurses and midwives working in northwestern Ethiopia referral hospitals.

Methods

This multicenter hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 11 to May 15, 2021 in northwestern Ethiopia referral hospitals. A self-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Data were entered into EPI info 7.2.3.2 and analyzed using SPSS version 25. Binary logistic regression was utilized to identify factors associated with sexual harassment, and associations were deemed significant at P<0.05.

Results

As the findings show, sexual harassment prevalence in the workplace among female nurses and midwives was found to be 17.4% (95% CI 14.5%–19.5%). Many nurses and midwives who had experienced sexual harassment were harassed by patients’ families — 43.2%. Factors associated with sexual harassment in the workplace were being unmarried (AOR 4, 95% CI 2.3–12.6), work experience of less than 5 years (AOR 5, 95% CI 1.2–19), and participant age of 18–25 (AOR 7.2, 95% CI 5.9–17) years, all strongly associated with the outcome variable.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Sexual harassment among midwives and nurses employed in northwestern Ethiopia referral hospitals is not tolerable, as indicated in these findings. The government should address this by amending and reforming policies and strategies to obviate this problem.

Keywords:

• referral hospitals
• sexual harassment
• midwives and nurses

Acknowledgment

The authors want to thank the University of Gondar for the ethics approval and cooperation. We also want to thank all data collectors and study participants. Our thanks go to Amhara Regional Health Bureau for writing permission letters and to all referral hospitals for their cooperation.

Disclosure

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

No funding agency was involved.