Inappropriate Patient Sexual Behavior in the Dental Practice Setting: Experiences of dental hygienists.

Workplace violence (WPV) and inappropriate patient sexual behavior (IPSB) have become increasingly prevalent in the United States. Previous research has shown health care professionals are at a 16-times higher risk of experiencing WPV and IPSB than other occupations, however, there is a lack of research in the field of dental hygiene. The purpose of the study was to examine the experiences of dental hygienists with IPSB in the workplace. A cross-sectional survey research design was used with a purposive sample of clinical dental hygienists recruited through social media sites (n=471). The validated survey was comprised of demographic and IPSB-related questions, with one open-ended question to expand on experiences with IPSB. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, t-tests and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The survey completion rate was 49% (n=232). Career occurrence of IPSB was 85.8% and occurrence within the last 12-month period was 63.5% among the respondents. Participants who experienced all three categories of IPSB severity had the lowest median number of years in clinical practice (Md.=5.0) as compared to those who reported two categories (Md.=7) and those with only one category (Md.=10), =0.01. Themes from the open-ended questions included types of patient perpetrating IPSB; type of IPSB behavior; and approaches to management of the IPSB. The high prevalence of IPSB events among dental hygienists in this study warrants increased practitioner education, improved workplace policy and support for management of IPSB.