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. 2017 Aug 14;17(1):134.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-017-0974-4.

Gender differences and similarities in medical students' experiences of mistreatment by various groups of perpetrators

Heidi Siller  1 , Gloria Tauber  2 , Nikola Komlenac  2 , Margarethe Hochleitner  2
Affiliations

Gender differences and similarities in medical students' experiences of mistreatment by various groups of perpetrators

Heidi Siller et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: Mistreatment of medical students during medical education is a widespread concern. Studies have shown that medical students report the most mistreatment compared to students of other study programs and that the prevalence of mistreatment peaks during clinical training. For this reason, a study was conducted to assess prevalence of mistreatment among medical students committed by various groups of people. The focus was to identify whether gender was associated with the experience of mistreatment. Additionally, students' perception of university climate for reporting sexual harassment was assessed.

Method: In the study 88 medical students (45 women, 43 men) participated. A modified version of the Questionnaire on Student Abuse was used to assess students' experience of various types of mistreatment and associated distress during medical education. To explore factors that could be associated with this experience the organizational climate for reporting sexual harassment was assessed with the Psychological Climate for Sexual Harassment.

Result: The most often cited perpetrators of mistreatment were strangers (79.5%), friends (75.0%) and university staff (68.2%). Strangers mostly committed psychological mistreatment and sexual harassment, whereas friends additionally engaged in physical mistreatment of medical students. The most common form of mistreatment conducted by university staff was humiliation of students. These kinds of psychological mistreatment were reported to be distressing (43%). Gender differences were found in the prevalence of mistreatment. Women experienced more sexual harassment and humiliation than did men. On the other hand, men experienced more physical mistreatment than did women. Women reported experiencing more distress from mistreatment experiences than did men and also more often reported being mistreated by university staff than did men. Women perceived a greater risk in reporting sexual harassment to the organization than did men.

Conclusion: Mistreatment of female and male students should be focused on using a gender perspective because types of mistreatment can differ by gender. Additionally, interventions should include the societal level as there was a high prevalence of mistreatment perpetrated by strangers. Also the issue of trust in the university needs to be addressed and the organization is called on to visibly demonstrate that it represents and protects its students as well as its staff.

Keywords: Medical students; Medical university; Mistreatment of students; Psychological mistreatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethics committee approval was not required for this study. Current legislation (see for example Universities Act (UG 2002) [41], Hospitals and Health Resorts Act (KAKuG) [42] regulates which studies conducted at Austrian medical universities require approval by the ethics committee e.g. §30 [41] clinical tests and studies of medical products, new medical methods, or applied medical research which includes human subjects. However, other types of studies (e.g. non-medical research, no involvement of patients) – such as this study – do not require review by the medical university’s ethics committee. Therefore the current study was not reviewed by the ethics committee of this medical university. In this study all potential participants were informed about the purpose and content of the study and how the study data would be used. They were informed that data would be used only in anonymized form. This information was given verbally as well as in written form in the introductory section of the questionnaire. Participation was voluntary and anonymous, and questionnaires were provided in a paper-pencil mode. Participants could withdraw from participation without stating a reason. Students were informed that withdrawal from participation would have no negative consequences.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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