Women, people in minority groups and those in the LGBTQ+ community experience disproportionately high rates of workplace mistreatment in the academic medicine setting, a study published June 6 in JAMA found.
A team led by researchers at Atlanta-based Emory University surveyed 830 U.S. faculty members about their workplace experiences in 2021.
Four findings:
1. Overall, 72.7 percent of women reported experiencing at least one form of workplace sexual harassment in the previous two years. Forty-five percent of men reported the same.
2. Of the survey respondents who identify as LGBTQ+, 13.3 percent reported experiencing sexual harassment while using social media professionally, compared to 2.5 percent of respondents who identify as cisgender or heterosexual.
3. Respondents from racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in medicine rated their organization's diversity climate more negatively than white respondents. They also reported more instances of cyber incivility and racist comments when using social media professionally.
4. Researchers found these negative experiences were linked to poorer mental health among affected employees.
"A cultural problem exists in academic medicine that disproportionately affects women and others from systematically marginalized populations, indicating an ongoing need for cultural transformation in the medical profession," researchers concluded.