Experience of Sexual Harassment in Public Transportation among Students of Selected

Nursing Colleges in Kathmandu, Nepal

Bharati Adhikari,
Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu Nepal

Introduction: Women of all ages have experienced sexual harassment on public transportation
but students are more vulnerable. Females who are victimized are psychologically, physically,
socially and economically affected by this conduct The objective of this study was to determine
the prevalence of sexual harassment among nursing students using public transportation, to find
out the types of sexual harassment experienced and to measure the association between
experience of sexual harassment and selected variables.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 163 Proficiency Certificate
Level (PCL) Nursing students studying in three private nursing colleges of Kathmandu i.e.
Gunaraj Pathak Memorial Nursing Campus (GPMNC), Norvic Institute of Nursing Education
(NINE) and B.P. Memorial Health Institute and Research Center using self -administered semi-
structured questionnaire. Purposive sampling technique was used for data collection.

Results: The prevalence of sexual harassment in public transportation among nursing students
was found to be 47.9%. Majority of the respondent’s experienced physical harassment (88.5%)
followed by non-verbal harassment (76.9%) and verbal harassment (65.4%) respectively. Most
of the harassment was found on a bus (76.9%) while 32.1% of the incident happened in
microbus/mini bus. There was significant association between year of study (p = 0.003, p ≤ 0.05)
and frequency of travel (p = 0.008, p ≤ 0.05) with the experience of sexual harassment.

Conclusion: In the last one year, nearly half of the respondents had faced sexual harassment in
public transportation and most of the harassment were found on a bus. Physical harassment was
the most prominent type of harassment experienced. Likewise, the study also concluded that
there was significant association between year of study and frequency of travel with the
experience of sexual harassment.

Keywords: Sexual Harassment, Public Transportation, Nursing students

Correspondence: Bharati Adhikari, Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu
Nepal. Email: bharatiadhikari777@gmail.com, Phone: +977 9851238968.

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