Perception and Attitude of Internship Nursing Student Regarding Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment behavior is one of the most difficult problems facing internship nursing students in recent years that evoke stronger emotional reactions. The purpose of thestudy was toassess perception and attitude of internship nursing students regarding sexual harassment. A descriptive study was utilized in this study. This study was conducted at the Faculty of Nursing - Banha University. A convenience of 276 female nursing students who were registered in the internship year during time of data collection in the academic year 2016-2017. TwoInstruments were used for collecting data. Instrument one astructured interviewing questionnaire, it consisted of three parts. Part (1) socio-demographic characteristic of internship nursing students, part (2)data about internship training, and Part (3)students' perception regarding sexual harassment. Instrument twoincludedscale ofattitude of internship nursing students toward sexual harassment. The result of this study indicated that,58.7% of the internship nursing students had an average level of perception regarding sexual harassment. The majority of the internship nursing students had a negative attitude toward sexual harassment. Meanwhile, only 0.4% had a positive attitude toward sexual harassment. There was a statistically positive correlation between the internship nursing students' total perception and attitude scores regarding sexual harassment. Also, there was a statistically significant relation between the studied sample's level of perception and attitude about sexual harassment and age, residence, and arrangement between brothers and sisters. Conclusion, the study concluded that the internship nursing students have an average level of perception regarding sexual harassment and a negative attitude toward sexual harassment. Therefore, it is recommended that, intensive training program should be implemented to develop intern students’ awareness to eliminate sexual harassment.