Determination of Sexual Harassment of Nurses by Patients

Objective: To determine the prevalence and details of sexual harassment of nurses by patients and nursing reactions. Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study on sexual harassment against nurses by patients was conducted with 184 nurses working in three hospital in Adıyaman and Sivas.Data was collected by questionnaire survey consist of two part and 13 questions. Data analysis was performed using the Statistical Package Program for the Social Sciences (SPSS, version 11.0). Percentage and chi- square tests were used in the data analysis. Results: Most of the nurses (71.7% ) indicated that they had been sexually harassed by patients. According to types of sexual harassment of the nurses. “Gazing at nurses in a lewd matters” was reported to be the most encountered type of sexual harassment by 61.4 % of the sexually harassed nurses. 29.3 % of the participants reported that they ask for help from manager or colleagues. Limitation of the communication with patients and herself behaviours are the remarkable suggestions of the participant nurses. Conclusion: Most of the nurses they had been sexually harassed by patients. Most of them give passive reactions and their coping methods are not towards to problem.