Sexual Harassment in Social Work Field Placements: A Look at the Current Climate

Background/Rationale

Field education is considered the “Signature Pedagogy” of social work training and is an essential requirement for completion of BSW and MSW degrees.  Federal legislation specifies that educational institutions must take steps to protect students from hostile educational environments based on gender, which includes sexual harassment.  There is, however, a dearth of recent literature about sexual harassment experienced by social work students in the course of fulfilling the required field internship. A survey was conducted in order to better understand the extent and nature of sexual harassment experiences in field and the current state of social work programs’ efforts to prevent and respond.  

Methods

A web-based survey was administered to explore sexual harassment experiences of BSW and MSW students at accredited social work programs who had completed at least 200 hours of field placement in the previous 12 months.  The researchers contacted social work programs through listservs and professional networks.  Programs that agreed to distribute the survey to their students sent a recruitment email containing a link to the survey, which included the Sexual Experiences Questionnaire, a validated measure of sexual harassment and other questions modified from national campus safety climate surveys.  Survey respondents (n=525) were primarily female (89.2%), white (84.1%) and heterosexual (84%), and enrolled in MSW programs (74.2%).

Results  

Of the survey respondents, 44% said they did not feel prepared by their social work program for issues related to sexual harassment and only 51.5% received any training on the definition of sexual harassment and options for reporting (primarily from field offices and/or the placement site).  Over 55% of respondents indicated having experienced at least one form of sexual harassment while in their social work field placements, most often from staff (41.8%) or clients (40.8%). The most common forms of sexual harassment involved being repeatedly told offensive sexual stories or jokes (27.9%), being treated differently due to sex (19.6%), and being stared or leered at in an uncomfortable way (16.4%).  Students rarely pursued formal mechanisms for reporting (5.6%), and when they did pursue formal help often found the response to be unhelpful (43.6%). 

Those who had experienced sexual harassment in field were more likely to say sexual harassment is a problem in field education (t₍₅₁₁₎=5.92, p<.001) and were less likely to agree that their program prepared them adequately (t₍₅₁₂₎=3.92, p<.001).  Those who did receive training felt more prepared (t₍₅₁₂₎=-13.28, p<.001) and were more likely to report that they knew who to approach if they experience sexual harassment in field (t₍₄₆₃₎=-9.4, p<.001).

Conclusions

Over half of students surveyed had experienced at least one form of sexual harassment at their field placement.  Despite the relative frequency of sexual harassment, many students neither received training nor felt adequately prepared by their program for possible sexual harassment.  Students need support, training and preparation to address safety issues at field placements.  Social work programs should have clear policies for reporting that comply with legislation, proactively address potential sexual harassment, and provide support for students who experience harassment in their field placement.