Cargando…

Unwanted sexual attention at work and long-term sickness absence: a follow-up register-based study

BACKGROUND: The current understanding of the relationship between unwanted sexual attention at work and long-term sickness absence (LTSA) is limited for three reasons: 1) the under-researched role of unwanted sexual attention perpetrated by individuals outside the work organization; 2) a widespread...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hogh, Annie, Conway, Paul Maurice, Clausen, Thomas, Madsen, Ida Elisabeth Huitfeldt, Burr, Hermann
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4967501/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27475538
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3336-y
_version_ 1782445527051272192
author Hogh, Annie
Conway, Paul Maurice
Clausen, Thomas
Madsen, Ida Elisabeth Huitfeldt
Burr, Hermann
author_facet Hogh, Annie
Conway, Paul Maurice
Clausen, Thomas
Madsen, Ida Elisabeth Huitfeldt
Burr, Hermann
author_sort Hogh, Annie
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The current understanding of the relationship between unwanted sexual attention at work and long-term sickness absence (LTSA) is limited for three reasons: 1) the under-researched role of unwanted sexual attention perpetrated by individuals outside the work organization; 2) a widespread use of self-reported measures of sickness absence, with an unclear identification of sickness absence episodes of long duration; 3) the cross-sectional design of most existing studies. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the relationship between self-reported unwanted sexual attention at work and subsequent LTSA (≥3 weeks), stratifying by gender and source of exposure (i.e., colleagues, managers and/or subordinates vs. clients/customers/patients). METHODS: This prospective study is based on a pooled sample of 14,605 employees from three Danish surveys conducted in 2000, 2004 and 2005, providing a total of 19,366 observations. A single questionnaire-based item was used to assess exposure to unwanted sexual attention. The pooled dataset was merged with Danish register data on LTSA. The risk of first-onset episode of LTSA (up to 18 months after baseline) in connection with unwanted sexual attention was examined using Cox proportional hazards models. We estimated Hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) adjusted for age, influence at work, work pace, occupational group and mode of data collection. We also adjusted for repeated measures from individual respondents by stratifying the Cox models by wave of survey. RESULTS: Unwanted sexual attention from colleagues, managers and/or subordinates predicted LTSA among men (HR 2.66; 95 % CI 1.42-5.00). Among women, an elevated but non-statistically significant risk of LTSA (HR 1.18; 95 % CI 0.65-2.14) was found. Unwanted sexual attention from clients/customers/patients did not predict LTSA, neither among men nor among women. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate a significantly elevated risk of LTSA, among men only, in relation to exposure to unwanted sexual attention from colleagues, managers and/or subordinates. This study therefore suggests both individual and organizational costs associated with unwanted sexual attention at work. Due to the low prevalence of unwanted sexual attention, larger studies with more statistical power are needed to confirm (or disconfirm) the present findings.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4967501
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2016
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-49675012016-08-01 Unwanted sexual attention at work and long-term sickness absence: a follow-up register-based study Hogh, Annie Conway, Paul Maurice Clausen, Thomas Madsen, Ida Elisabeth Huitfeldt Burr, Hermann BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: The current understanding of the relationship between unwanted sexual attention at work and long-term sickness absence (LTSA) is limited for three reasons: 1) the under-researched role of unwanted sexual attention perpetrated by individuals outside the work organization; 2) a widespread use of self-reported measures of sickness absence, with an unclear identification of sickness absence episodes of long duration; 3) the cross-sectional design of most existing studies. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the relationship between self-reported unwanted sexual attention at work and subsequent LTSA (≥3 weeks), stratifying by gender and source of exposure (i.e., colleagues, managers and/or subordinates vs. clients/customers/patients). METHODS: This prospective study is based on a pooled sample of 14,605 employees from three Danish surveys conducted in 2000, 2004 and 2005, providing a total of 19,366 observations. A single questionnaire-based item was used to assess exposure to unwanted sexual attention. The pooled dataset was merged with Danish register data on LTSA. The risk of first-onset episode of LTSA (up to 18 months after baseline) in connection with unwanted sexual attention was examined using Cox proportional hazards models. We estimated Hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) adjusted for age, influence at work, work pace, occupational group and mode of data collection. We also adjusted for repeated measures from individual respondents by stratifying the Cox models by wave of survey. RESULTS: Unwanted sexual attention from colleagues, managers and/or subordinates predicted LTSA among men (HR 2.66; 95 % CI 1.42-5.00). Among women, an elevated but non-statistically significant risk of LTSA (HR 1.18; 95 % CI 0.65-2.14) was found. Unwanted sexual attention from clients/customers/patients did not predict LTSA, neither among men nor among women. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate a significantly elevated risk of LTSA, among men only, in relation to exposure to unwanted sexual attention from colleagues, managers and/or subordinates. This study therefore suggests both individual and organizational costs associated with unwanted sexual attention at work. Due to the low prevalence of unwanted sexual attention, larger studies with more statistical power are needed to confirm (or disconfirm) the present findings. BioMed Central 2016-07-30 /pmc/articles/PMC4967501/ /pubmed/27475538 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3336-y Text en © The Author(s). 2016 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Hogh, Annie
Conway, Paul Maurice
Clausen, Thomas
Madsen, Ida Elisabeth Huitfeldt
Burr, Hermann
Unwanted sexual attention at work and long-term sickness absence: a follow-up register-based study
title Unwanted sexual attention at work and long-term sickness absence: a follow-up register-based study
title_full Unwanted sexual attention at work and long-term sickness absence: a follow-up register-based study
title_fullStr Unwanted sexual attention at work and long-term sickness absence: a follow-up register-based study
title_full_unstemmed Unwanted sexual attention at work and long-term sickness absence: a follow-up register-based study
title_short Unwanted sexual attention at work and long-term sickness absence: a follow-up register-based study
title_sort unwanted sexual attention at work and long-term sickness absence: a follow-up register-based study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4967501/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27475538
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3336-y
work_keys_str_mv AT hoghannie unwantedsexualattentionatworkandlongtermsicknessabsenceafollowupregisterbasedstudy
AT conwaypaulmaurice unwantedsexualattentionatworkandlongtermsicknessabsenceafollowupregisterbasedstudy
AT clausenthomas unwantedsexualattentionatworkandlongtermsicknessabsenceafollowupregisterbasedstudy
AT madsenidaelisabethhuitfeldt unwantedsexualattentionatworkandlongtermsicknessabsenceafollowupregisterbasedstudy
AT burrhermann unwantedsexualattentionatworkandlongtermsicknessabsenceafollowupregisterbasedstudy