Physician Sexual Misconduct

There have been wide-spread media reports of health care professionals engaging in sexual abuse of patients. Self-report data has shown that anywhere between 3-12% of physicians endorsed engaging in sexual contact with a patient. However, there has been a dearth empirical data to date regarding healthcare professional sexual abuse (HPSA), or the behaviors used to facilitate this type of abuse (i.e., sexual grooming). Given the widespread negative consequences of sexual abuse, it is necessary to examine how this type of abuse is enacted in order to prevent and detect these behaviors. The present study aims to survey a large sample of adult survivors of HPSA to investigate: 1) the characteristics and context of the sexual abuse, and 2) the extent to which sexual grooming is used in the offense process based a content-validated model. Adult survivors of HPSA (n = 250) will be recruited through Prolific to complete an online self-report survey. The data has important implications for the prevention, criminal investigation, prosecution, and clinical evaluation and treatment of HPSA.