Nursing students’ experiences of sexual harassment – A qualitative study from feminist identity perspective

AimTo explore experiences of sexual harassment among nursing students in an East Asian region and to gain knowledge of the underlying factors influencing nursing students’ conceptualization of and response to sexual harassment.BackgroundNursing students are susceptible to sexual harassment due to gender and power inequality in healthcare systems. Sexual harassment has an adverse impact on the students' physical and mental health. Studies on sexual harassment among nursing students are limited and reported significantly varied occurrence prevalence in different cultures. Feminist identity theory can provide a framework to examine social-culturally constructed perceptions of sexual harassment.DesignA qualitative descriptive study.MethodsThe study was conducted in Macau, a Special Administrative Region of China. Purposive sampling was applied. Twenty-six nursing students and five nursing educators participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview data. A series of measures were applied to enhance the trustworthiness of the study.ResultsWhile most of the students had not experienced or heard of sexual harassment, a limited number claimed sexual harassment as a frequently encountered instance. The students expressed uncertainty about what constituted sexual harassment, mainly due to a lack of exposure to information on sexual harassment. They were caught in a dilemma between exerting nursing professional virtues and exposing the misconduct of the suspected perpetrators, leading to taking passive approaches of ignoring and avoiding as the primary coping strategies. In contrast, nursing educators advocated proactive approaches as coping strategies to address sexual harassment.ConclusionsA conflict between nursing professional identity and feminist identity is observed among nursing students. Healthcare institutions and nursing schools should develop interventions to enhance nursing students’ assertiveness to sexual harassment.