Rationale
Sexual harassment is common among healthcare workers and is associated with poor mental health, job dissatisfaction, and workforce attrition. Education and training may help prevent sexual harassment, but their effectiveness in healthcare settings has not been systematically evaluated.
Objectives
To assess the effectiveness of education and training interventions on knowledge and skills for managing sexual harassment, and to assess their impact on the incidence of sexual harassment towards healthcare workers in healthcare settings.
Search methods
We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, AMED, CINAHL, Scopus, ClinicalTrials.gov, and the WHO ICTRP, together with reference checking and contact with study authors, to identify eligible studies. The latest search date was March 2025.
Eligibility criteria
We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) involving healthcare workers comparing education or training interventions with control (no intervention, waiting list, placebo, or minimal intervention) or different types of education or training to prevent sexual harassment in healthcare settings.
Outcomes
Our critical outcomes were knowledge and skills in managing sexual harassment and the incidence of all types of sexual harassment perpetrated by patients, visitors, coworkers, and management. Important outcomes were anxiety, depression, burnout, sick leave, staff turnover, disability, and perception of the organisational climate related to harassment.
Risk of bias
We used the Cochrane [...]