Sexual harassment and its relationship with depressive symptoms: A nationwide study of Korean EMS providers

Junghun Yoo; Ji Hwan Kim; Jaehong Yoon; Seung Sup Kim

doi:10.1002/ajim.22924

Sexual harassment and its relationship with depressive symptoms: A nationwide study of Korean EMS providers

Junghun Yoo, Ji Hwan Kim, Jaehong Yoon, Seung Sup Kim

Department of Public Health Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Emergency medical service (EMS) providers may face sexual harassment (SH) from citizens. No studies have assessed SH prevalence and its association with depressive symptoms among EMS providers in South Korea. Methods: We conducted a nationwide cross-sectional survey of 1346 EMS providers in South Korea. SH experience was assessed by asking, “During the past 12 months, have you ever experienced sexual harassment on duty by civil citizens?” Depressive symptoms during the preceding week were assessed using the Centers for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Modified Poisson regression was applied to examine association between SH and depressive symptoms. Results: Among EMS providers, 28.1% of females and 5.6% of males reported sexual harassment. In the gender-stratified analysis, EMS providers those who experienced SH were more likely to have depressive symptoms among females (PR: 2.97, 95% CI: 1.99, 4.44) and males (PR: 2.01, 95% CI: 1.41, 2.86). Conclusions: Female EMS providers were about five times more likely to experience SH than males.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	74-79
Number of pages	6
Journal	American Journal of Industrial Medicine
Volume	62
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.22924
Publication status	Published - 2019 Jan

Keywords

EMS providers
South Korea
depressive symptoms
gender stratification
sexual harassment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1002/ajim.22924

Cite this

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title = "Sexual harassment and its relationship with depressive symptoms: A nationwide study of Korean EMS providers",

abstract = "Background: Emergency medical service (EMS) providers may face sexual harassment (SH) from citizens. No studies have assessed SH prevalence and its association with depressive symptoms among EMS providers in South Korea. Methods: We conducted a nationwide cross-sectional survey of 1346 EMS providers in South Korea. SH experience was assessed by asking, “During the past 12 months, have you ever experienced sexual harassment on duty by civil citizens?” Depressive symptoms during the preceding week were assessed using the Centers for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Modified Poisson regression was applied to examine association between SH and depressive symptoms. Results: Among EMS providers, 28.1% of females and 5.6% of males reported sexual harassment. In the gender-stratified analysis, EMS providers those who experienced SH were more likely to have depressive symptoms among females (PR: 2.97, 95% CI: 1.99, 4.44) and males (PR: 2.01, 95% CI: 1.41, 2.86). Conclusions: Female EMS providers were about five times more likely to experience SH than males.",

keywords = "EMS providers, South Korea, depressive symptoms, gender stratification, sexual harassment",

author = "Junghun Yoo and Kim, {Ji Hwan} and Jaehong Yoon and Kim, {Seung Sup}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors report that there was no funding source for the work that resulted in the article or the preparation of the article. JYoo and SSK participated in the design of the study and JYoo, JYoon, and JHK in data analyses and interpretation. JYoo, JYoon, and JHK drafted the manuscript. JYoo, JYoon, JHK, and SSK contributed to critically review and revise the article. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. The authors report that there was no funding source for the work that resulted in the article or the preparation of the article. This study was performed at Korea University and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Korea University (1040548-KU-IRB-15-110-A-1). Informed consent was obtained from the respondents prior to the study participation. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Steven B. Markowitz declares that he has no conflict of interest in the review and publication decision regarding this article.",

year = "2019",

month = jan,

doi = "10.1002/ajim.22924",

language = "English",

volume = "62",

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journal = "American Journal of Industrial Medicine",

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T1 - Sexual harassment and its relationship with depressive symptoms

T2 - A nationwide study of Korean EMS providers

AU - Yoo, Junghun

AU - Kim, Ji Hwan

AU - Yoon, Jaehong

AU - Kim, Seung Sup

N1 - Funding Information: The authors report that there was no funding source for the work that resulted in the article or the preparation of the article. JYoo and SSK participated in the design of the study and JYoo, JYoon, and JHK in data analyses and interpretation. JYoo, JYoon, and JHK drafted the manuscript. JYoo, JYoon, JHK, and SSK contributed to critically review and revise the article. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. The authors report that there was no funding source for the work that resulted in the article or the preparation of the article. This study was performed at Korea University and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Korea University (1040548-KU-IRB-15-110-A-1). Informed consent was obtained from the respondents prior to the study participation. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Steven B. Markowitz declares that he has no conflict of interest in the review and publication decision regarding this article.

PY - 2019/1

Y1 - 2019/1

N2 - Background: Emergency medical service (EMS) providers may face sexual harassment (SH) from citizens. No studies have assessed SH prevalence and its association with depressive symptoms among EMS providers in South Korea. Methods: We conducted a nationwide cross-sectional survey of 1346 EMS providers in South Korea. SH experience was assessed by asking, “During the past 12 months, have you ever experienced sexual harassment on duty by civil citizens?” Depressive symptoms during the preceding week were assessed using the Centers for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Modified Poisson regression was applied to examine association between SH and depressive symptoms. Results: Among EMS providers, 28.1% of females and 5.6% of males reported sexual harassment. In the gender-stratified analysis, EMS providers those who experienced SH were more likely to have depressive symptoms among females (PR: 2.97, 95% CI: 1.99, 4.44) and males (PR: 2.01, 95% CI: 1.41, 2.86). Conclusions: Female EMS providers were about five times more likely to experience SH than males.

AB - Background: Emergency medical service (EMS) providers may face sexual harassment (SH) from citizens. No studies have assessed SH prevalence and its association with depressive symptoms among EMS providers in South Korea. Methods: We conducted a nationwide cross-sectional survey of 1346 EMS providers in South Korea. SH experience was assessed by asking, “During the past 12 months, have you ever experienced sexual harassment on duty by civil citizens?” Depressive symptoms during the preceding week were assessed using the Centers for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Modified Poisson regression was applied to examine association between SH and depressive symptoms. Results: Among EMS providers, 28.1% of females and 5.6% of males reported sexual harassment. In the gender-stratified analysis, EMS providers those who experienced SH were more likely to have depressive symptoms among females (PR: 2.97, 95% CI: 1.99, 4.44) and males (PR: 2.01, 95% CI: 1.41, 2.86). Conclusions: Female EMS providers were about five times more likely to experience SH than males.

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KW - depressive symptoms

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Sexual harassment and its relationship with depressive symptoms: A nationwide study of Korean EMS providers

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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