Publications

Workplace harassment unfortunately appears to be quite common with a past year prevalence of 47% for sexual harassment and 63% for generalized harassment in a nationally representative survey. Many adverse health outcomes have been linked to workplace harassment. This long-term follow-up study (23 years) examined the link between workplace harassment and the onset of health effects using surveys at multiple time points among 4832 university employees in different job categories (faculty, students, clerical/administrative, service/maintenance).

Results showed that chronic workplace harassment statistically significantly increased the odds of coronary heart disease, arthritic/rheumatic conditions and migraines. Occupational health professionals need to be aware of the importance of supporting organizational anti-harassment policies to protect the health of their workers.

To read more about this study, please visit the November 2023 issue of JOEM online at DOI:10.1097/JOM.0000000000002915.