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Category: Project

Description: Background. Research shows that gender-based and sexual harassment are prevalent within training and practicing medical establishments, with differences across specific specialties. Orthopaedic surgery remains a male-dominated field, with recent statistics reporting women representing only 5% and 12% of orthopaedic surgeons in the United States and Canada, respectively. This represents a significant gender discrepancy and, although there may be many reasons why this discrepancy exists, it is justified to explore whether gender-based and sexual harassment may contribute to this disparity. Objectives. This study aims to determine the prevalence of gender-based and sexual harassment in orthopaedic surgery, and to determine the impact of these experiences on female orthopaedic surgeons. It will also explore the association of such gender-based and sexual harassment experiences with certain demographic factors. Methods. We will conduct a cross-sectional survey of female orthopaedic surgeons, fellows and residents that are current members of a participating orthopaedic society. We have developed a unique questionnaire to gather information concerning gender-based and sexual harassment experiences of female orthopaedic surgeons, fellows and residents throughout their education and current practices. The questionnaire will be administered online using SurveyMonkey®, the online survey tool, to ensure anonymity. Reminder emails will be distributed up to two times after the survey is initially distributed to maximize the number of responses and, thus, validity and generalizability. Descriptive analyses and multivariable logistic regression analyses will be conducted to analyze the collected data. Conclusions. The results of this study are likely to bring to light a critical issue in orthopaedic surgery and will hopefully provide the impetus for orthopaedic departments and societies to develop and enforce policies that limit these destructive behaviors in the workplace. We hope the results will provide sufficient information to determine if these experiences are one of the factors leading to the pronounced gender disparity within this field. Ethics and Dissemination. An ethics application is currently under review with the Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board (HiREB) in Hamilton, ON, Canada. The results of this initiative will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.