Emotional Effects and Correlates of Harassment in Female Health Professionals

Harassment is one of the workplace challenges which leads to multitude of issues for both the victim and work organization. A cross sectional study was conducted on 187 female healthcare professionals working in various private and public hospitals chosen through purposive sampling technique from private and public health facilities of Lahore. Data were gathered using harassment experience survey and detailed demographic questionnaire. The study took into consideration both direct and indirect harassment experiences. Findings showed that female healthcare professionals reported significant rate of both indirect harassment experience (82 %) and direct harassment experience (69%). The rate of sexual harassment was reported to be higher in both indirect (75%) and direct (63%) experience groups. Rate of verbal harassment was reported to be 25% in participants of indirect and 37% for direct experience groups. Most of the participants reported to have experienced various psychological problems after facing harassment. Depression and anger were observed to be most reported psychological reactions to sexual harassment, whereas depression and phobia were significantly related to verbal harassment. Experience of harassment faced at workplace makes victims vulnerable towards many psychological problems.