The sound of silence: health and social care students’ perspective on how sexual harassment from care recipients is not talked about in vocational education and training

Sexual harassment is a widespread problem. In care work, a significant proportion of sexual harassment comes from care recipients. Vocational education and training has an important role to play in preparing students to deal with sexual harassment from care recipients, but students describe a silence about sexual harassment in their education. This paper uses theories of gender and institutional betrayal to examine the mechanisms that enable the silence surrounding the sexual harassment from care recipients that students describe exists in health and social care education. The data consists of focus group interviews with 49 students. The findings, derived from the students’ descriptions, indicate that the mechanisms that facilitate the perpetuation of silence regarding sexual harassment are as follows: firstly, assistant nurses are inclined to prioritise the needs of the care recipient, and they are expected to demonstrate loyalty to the care recipient rather than prioritise their own safety. Secondly, managers and future colleagues socialise students into an environment where sexual harassment is condoned.