Sexual violence perpetrated by health professionals

Marisalva Fávero; Vanessa Gomes; Amaia Del Campo; Diana Moreira; Valéria Sousa-Gomes

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1005696

Sexual violence perpetrated by health professionals

Front Psychol. 2023 Apr 3:13:1005696. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1005696. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Marisalva Fávero^{1

2}, Vanessa Gomes¹, Amaia Del Campo³, Diana Moreira^{4

5

6}, Valéria Sousa-Gomes^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Social and Behavioral Sciences Department, University of Maia, Maia, Portugal.
² Justice and Governance Research Center of the Law School, University of Minho (JusGov/UM), Braga, Portugal.
³ Department of Evolutionary and Educational Psychology, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
⁴ Institute of Psychology and Neuropsychology of Porto - IPNP Health, Porto, Portugal.
⁵ Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
⁶ Centro de Solidariedade de Braga/Projecto Homem, Braga, Portugal.

Abstract

Sexual violence (SV) perpetrated by health professionals concerns any sexual conduct, whether physical or verbal (with or without contact), toward a patient. There has been little scientific study and some disagreements have emerged regarding its definition, which has even been confused with violation of professional boundaries. In this descriptive-exploratory study, we aimed to characterize this phenomenon in the Portuguese context, using a sample of 491 participants who completed an online questionnaire adapted for this study. The results showed that 8.96% of the participants (5.5% indirect victims) suffered SV by a health professional, and the sociodemographic characteristics are very similar to those of SV in other contexts. Thus, after confirming this is not a problem alien to the Portuguese reality, we discuss the practical implications for prevention and intervention with victims.

Keywords: direct victims; health professionals; indirect victims; rape; sexual violence.

Grants and funding

This work was financed by the Maiêutica-Cooperativa de Ensino Superior, CRL, and the National Funds of the National Agency for Science and Technology (FCT—Fundação Para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P.), under the UID Financing/05749/2020.