Nurses’ Experience of Sexual Harassment at the Workplace and Traumatic Stress as Factors Attributing Professional Identity: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective: Although workplace sexual harassment is known to affect nurses’ psychological well-being, research on itsrelationship with professional identity is limited.Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study designed to examine sexual harassment experienced by nurses, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and their association with professional identity. Study data were obtainedbetween April 25 and 30, 2019. The study was conducted with 115 nurses working in different hospitals who hadexperienced sexual harassment in their workplaces in the past year. The sample was recruited from an online nursing community in South Korea. Participants were asked about the type of sexual harassment, its frequency, and theperpetrators. PTSD symptoms and professional identity were measured using the Impact Event Scale-Revised and themodified version of Snizek-revised Hall’s professional inventory.Results: Physical sexual harassment (294 reported cases) was the most frequently reported type of sexual harassmentamong nurses. Patients were the majority of the perpetrators in almost all types of sexual harassment. In the logisticregression analysis, a more frequent experience of sexual harassment (P < .05) had a statistically significant effect onattenuated professional identity. Higher levels of PTSD due to sexual harassment were independently associated withstrengthened professional identity (P < .05)Conclusion: Nurses’ frequent experiences of sexual harassment in the workplace are an occupational health risk thataffects their professional identity. However, high levels of PTSD were significantly related to a strengthened professionalidentity among nurses with experiences of sexual harassment. It would be helpful to use the strategies to promoteposttraumatic growth in caring sexually harassed nurses to reinforce their professional identity.Cite this article as: Lee E, Suh M. Nurses’ experience of sexual harassment at the workplace and traumatic stress as factors attributing professional identity: A crosssectional study. Arch Health Sci Res. 2025; 12, 0066, doi: 10.5152/ArcHealthSciRes.2024.24066.