Anti-harassment policies across Canadian and international medical programs: strengths, areas for improvement, and a need for standardization

Hannah Peters; Byunghoon Ahn; Ruilin Gong; Nigel Mantou Lou; Jason M Harley

doi:10.36834/cmej.81517

Authors

Hannah Peters McGill University
Byunghoon Ahn McGill University
Ruilin Gong McGill University
Nigel Mantou Lou Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1363-833X
Jason M Harley McGill University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2061-9519

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36834/cmej.81517

Abstract

Background/Purpose: Medical trainee harassment is a global issue that has led to a multitude of detrimental effects. An important area of consideration is whether harassment policies are clear and available to all medical trainees globally. We aimed to develop a standardized rubric for evaluating anti-harassment policies and assess policies across Canadian medical schools and top international universities to identify strengths and areas for improvement.

Methods: We constructed a rubric by synthesizing criteria from established frameworks on harassment policy effectiveness, adapting key elements to assess clarity, accessibility, and comprehensiveness in medical school policies. On March 2023, we evaluated 58 harassment policies from 16 Canadian medical schools and 31 policies from eight of the top 10 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS)-ranked universities. Our rubric, developed from four key frameworks, scored policies across three themes: (1) Policy Foundation, (2) Complaint Procedures, and (3) Resolution and Implementation.

Results: Canadian universities performed well in foundational policy areas (average score 83.00% on Theme 1) but showed meaningful gaps in Complaint Procedures (48.75%) and Resolution and Implementation (39.38%). Top international QS-ranked universities similarly scored low in these latter themes, though they performed better on formal complaint processes. Key areas needing improvement include informal complaint procedures and timelines for response in Canadian universities, and policy revision commitments in top QS-ranked universities.

Conclusions: This study highlights the need for enhanced anti-harassment policies, particularly in complaint and resolution procedures. Our rubric provides a structured approach for policy evaluation, enabling Canadian and potentially international institutions to improve policy clarity, accessibility, and comprehensiveness, fostering safer training environments.

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Author Biography

Jason M Harley, McGill University

Jason M. Harley, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor (tenured) in the Department of Surgery, McGill University, Scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Director of Research of the Steinberg Centre for Simulation and Interactive Learning, Director of the Simulation, Affect, Innovation, Learning, and Surgery (SAILS) Lab, and Associate Member of the Institute of Health Sciences Education. They have been inducted into The Society for Simulation in Healthcare’s ASCEND Leadership Network, and received The Canadian Association of Medical Education Certificate of Merit Award, and The Outstanding Early Career Researcher Award from the Technology, Instruction, Cognition, and Learning SIG of the American Educational Research Association.

Prof. Harley has published over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles since 2013, along with one book, more than half a dozen chapters, and ~20 referred conference proceedings. As Principal Investigator (PI), their research has attracted over 1.3 million dollars in external funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and other agencies since 2016. Their research has led to dozens of broadcast and print interviews in venues such as The Guardian, CBC News, The Globe and Mail, Global News, and CTV News. Prof. Harley completed their FRQSC and SSHRC CGS-funded Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at McGill University in 2014 and held an FRQSC-funded postdoctoral position in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Montréal from 2014-2015. Their influential psychological theory of emotion regulation in achievement settings and methodology for aligning multimodal data from sensors, automatic facial recognition software, and self-reports have been cited over 300 and 250 times, respectively.

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