Addressing Sexual Harassment and Gender Bias: Mandatory Modules Are Not Enough

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Despite decades of new policy guidelines and mandatory training modules, sexual harassment (SH) and gender bias (GB) continue in academic medicine. The hierarchical structure of medical training makes it challenging to act when one experiences or witnesses SH or GB. Most trainings designed to address SH and GB are driven by external mandates and do not utilize current educational techniques. Our goal was to design training that is in-person, active, and directed toward skills development. Methods: Our academic family medicine (FM) department began by surveying our faculty and residents about their lived experiences of SH and GB. We used these data, incorporating principles of adult learning, to deliver voluntary, experiential, interactive workshops throughout 2019. The workshops took place during faculty development meetings and an annual retreat. We used interactive techniques that included case-based and Theater of the Oppressed formats. Outcomes: Eighty percent of faculty and residents participated in at least one of our voluntary training sessions. In April of 2020, we administered a retrospective, pre/postsurvey on confidence in recognizing, responding to, and reporting SH and GB. We found significant improvements in all domains surveyed; many participants reported using the skills in the 6 months prior to completing the surveys. Conclusion: We demonstrated that voluntary, interactive training sessions using the recommendations of the National Academies of Science Engineering and Medicine Report on the Sexual Harassment of Women improve participants’ reported confidence in recognizing, responding to, and reporting SH and GB in one academic FM department. This training intervention is practical and can be disseminated and implemented in many settings.