ArticleBMC public health2017
Workplace sexual harassment and depressive symptoms: a cross-sectional multilevel analysis comparing harassment from clients or customers to harassment from other employees amongst 7603 Danish employees from 1041 organizations.
Article in BMC public health, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 103 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bystander interventions against gender-based violence and harassment in the workplace: a scoping review.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Systematic Review of Policies and Interventions to Prevent Sexual Harassment in the Workplace in Order to Prevent Depression.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Measurement and prevalence of sexual harassment in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2021Pooled it
- Workplace violence and health in human service industries: a systematic review of prospective and longitudinal studies.Occupational and environmental medicine · 2021Pooled it
- A measurement tool to capture sexual harassment among women in Tanzania: results from cognitive testing.Global health action · 2026Article
- When Care Turns Hostile-Threats and Violence Toward Staff in Somatic Healthcare.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2025Article
- Interventions to Prevent Sexual Harassment Against Nurses-StopSH: Protocol for an Intervention Development Study.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Workplace mistreatment of Swedish health care professionals: prevalence and perpetrators across profession, sex, and birth country.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Workplace sexual harassment: a qualitative study of the self-labelling process among employees in Denmark.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2024Article
- Sexual violence in the workplace and associated health outcomes: a nationwide, cross-sectional analysis of women in Iceland.The Lancet. Public health · 2024Article
- Psychosocial study environment characteristics associated with exposure to sexual harassment at a large public university in southern Sweden: a cross-sectional study.Global health action · 2023Article
- Sexual harassment as experienced by nurses from selected healthcare facilities in Ghana.BMC nursing · 2023Article
- Consequences of exposure to sexual harassment among women working in hospitality workplaces in Bahir Dar City, Ethiopia: a structural equation model.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2023Article
- Bi-directional associations between gender-based harassment at work, psychological treatment and depressive symptoms.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Sexual harassment among employees and students at a large Swedish university: who are exposed, to what, by whom and where - a cross-sectional prevalence study.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Sexual and gender harassment and use of psychotropic medication among Swedish workers: a prospective cohort study.Occupational and environmental medicine · 2022Article
- Factors associated with sexual violence among waitresses working in Bahir Dar City, Ethiopia: a mixed-method study.BMC women's health · 2022Article
- Strategies to prevent workplace sexual harassment among Iranian nurses: A qualitative study.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Personal Safety and Fear of Sexual Harassment among Female Garment Workers in Bangladesh.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Health and Well-Being Consequences for Gender Violence Survivors from Isolating Gender Violence.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPrevious research has reported that sexual harassment can lead to reduced mental health. Few studies have focused on sexual harassment conducted by clients or customers, which might occur in person-related occupations such as eldercare work, social work or customer service work. This study examined the cross-sectional association between sexual harassment by clients or customers and depressive symptoms. We also examined if this association was different compared to sexual harassment conducted by a colleague, supervisor or subordinate. Further, we investigated if psychosocial workplace initiatives modified the association between sexual harassment by clients or customers and level of depressive symptoms.
methodsWe used data from the Work Environment and Health in Denmark cohort study (WEHD) and the Work Environment Activities in Danish Workplaces Study (WEADW) collected in 2012. WEHD is based on a random sample of employed individuals aged 18-64. In WEADW, organizational supervisors or employee representatives provided information on workplace characteristics. By combining WEHD and WEADW we included self-reported information on working conditions and health from 7603 employees and supervisors in 1041 organizations within 5 occupations. Data were analyzed using multilevel regression and analyses adjusted for gender, age, occupation and socioeconomic position.
resultsExposure to workplace sexual harassment from clients or customers was statistically significantly associated with a higher level of depressive symptoms (2.05; 95% CI: 0.98-3.12) compared to no exposure. Employees harassed by colleagues, supervisors or subordinates had a higher mean level of depressive symptoms (2.45; 95% CI: 0.57-4.34) than employees harassed by clients or customers. We observed no statistically significant interactions between harassment from clients and customers and any of the examined psychosocial workplace initiatives (all p > 0.05).
conclusionsThe association between sexual harassment and depressive symptoms differed for employees harassed by clients or customers and those harassed by colleagues, supervisors or subordinates. The results underline the importance of investigating sexual harassment from clients or customers and sexual harassment by colleagues, supervisors or subordinates as distinct types of harassment. We found no modification of the association between sexual harassment by clients or customers and depressive symptoms by any of the examined psychosocial workplace initiatives.
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