Background
Sexual harassment by clients or customers
Methods
Study design and population
Measurements
Workplace sexual harassment
Depressive symptoms
Major Depression Inventory | |
---|---|
How much of the time | |
1. Have you felt low in spirits or sad? | |
2. Have you lost interest in your daily activities? | |
3. Have you felt lacking in energy and strength? | |
4. Have you felt less self-confident? | |
5. Have you had a bad conscience or feelings of guilt? | |
6. Have you felt that life wasn’t worth living? | |
7. Have you had difficulty in concentrating, e.g. when reading the newspaper or watching television? | |
8. Have you felt very restless? | |
9. Have you felt subdued or slowed down? | |
10. Have you had trouble sleeping at night? | |
11. Have you suffered from reduced appetite? | |
12. Have you suffered from increased appetite? |
Psychosocial workplace initiatives
Statistical analyses
Potential confounders
Sensitivity analyses
Results
Descriptive analyses
Total | Sexual harassment from clients/customers | Sexual harassment from colleagues/supervisors/subordinates | Not exposed | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N (%)
|
N (%)
|
N (%)
|
N (%)
| |||||
Total | 7603 | (100) | 180 | (2.4) | 79 | (1.0) | 7344 | (96.6) |
Sex | ||||||||
Men | 3487 | (45.9) | 11 | (0.3) | 31 | (0.9) | 3445 | (98.8) |
Women | 4116 | (54.1) | 169 | (4.1) | 48 | (1.2) | 3899 | (94.7) |
Age(Mean = 46.0,SD = 10.9) | ||||||||
18–29 | 689 | (9.1) | 28 | (4.1) | 22 | (3.2) | 639 | (92.7) |
30–39 | 1352 | (17.8) | 29 | (2.1) | 19 | (1.4) | 1304 | (96.4) |
40–49 | 2309 | (30.4) | 56 | (2.4) | 20 | (0.9) | 2233 | (96.7) |
50+ | 3253 | (42.8) | 67 | (2.1) | 18 | (0.6) | 3168 | (97.4) |
Occupation | ||||||||
Care work | 2191 | (28.8) | 152 | (6.9) | 16 | (0.7) | 2023 | (92.3) |
Knowledge work | 1895 | (24.9) | 13 | (0.7) | 16 | (0.8) | 1866 | (98.5) |
Industrial work | 1364 | (17.9) | ≤ 3 | 15 | (1.1) | 1349 | (98.9) | |
Private service | 1242 | (16.3) | 13 | (1.0) | 22 | (1.8) | 1207 | (97.2) |
Building and construction | 911 | (12.0) | ≤ 3 | 10 | (1.1) | 899 | (98.7) | |
Socioeconomic status | ||||||||
Senior manager in concerns, organizations and the public sector | 342 | (4.5) | 4 | (1.2) | ≤ 3 | 336 | (98.2) | |
Employee in an occupation acquiring skills on the highest level | 2393 | (31.5) | 42 | (1.8) | 18 | (0.8) | 2333 | (97.5) |
Employee in an occupation acquiring skills on an intermediate level | 885 | (11.6) | ≤ 3 | 12 | (1.4) | 876 | (98.6) | |
Employee in an occupation acquiring skills on ground level | 3130 | (41.2) | 129 | (4.1) | 34 | (1.1) | 2967 | (94.8) |
Other employees | 853 | (11.2) | 5 | (0.6) | 13 | (1.5) | 835 | (97.9) |
Has the organization implemented activities to prevent sickness-absence? | ||||||||
Yes (to a high degree/partly) | 6246 | (82.2) | 159 | (2.5) | 65 | (1.0) | 6022 | (96.4) |
No (to a low degree/ no/do not know) | 1228 | (16.2) | 19 | (1.5) | 14 | (1.1) | 1195 | (97.3) |
Not relevant | 129 | (1.7) | ≤ 3 | ≤ 3 | 127 | (98.4) | ||
Were employees offered health insurance to cover treatment by specialists (physiotherapy, psychologist or similar? | ||||||||
Yes (yes, offered during working hours/yes, offered outside of working hours) | 5527 | (72.7) | 129 | (2.3) | 55 | (1.0) | 5343 | (96.7) |
No (no/do not know) | 2076 | (27.3) | 51 | (2.5) | 24 | (1.4) | 2001 | (96.4) |
Has the organization evaluated the psychosocial work environment? | ||||||||
Yes (yes) | 5857 | (77.0) | 157 | (2.7) | 65 | (1.1) | 5635 | (96.2) |
No (no/do not know) | 1746 | (23.0) | 23 | (1.3) | 14 | (0.8) | 1709 | (97.9) |
Association of sexual harassment and depressive symptoms
Sexual harassment | ||
---|---|---|
Estimated mean difference |
P value | |
Association of sexual harassment and depressive symptoms | ||
Sexual harassment from clients/customers compared to non-exposed employees (N = 7524) | 2.05 (95% CI: 0.98–3.12) | .0002 |
Sexual harassment from colleagues/supervisors compared to Sexual harassment from clients/customers (N = 7603) | 2.45 (95% CI: 0.57–4.34) | 0.011 |
Effect-modification analyses | ||
Workplace characteristics | Estimated modification of association | |
Has the organization implemented preventive activities to avoid sickness-absence? (N = 7395) | 0.31 (95% CI: −3.09;3.71) | 0.86 |
Access to treatment (physiotherapy, psychologist or similar)? (N = 7524) | −0.52 (95% CI: −2.85;1.81) | 0.66 |
Has the organization analyzed the psychological work environment? (N = 7524) | −0.83 (95% CI: −3.95;2.29) | 0.60 |