Professional sexual boundaries—Asian and Western perception: An observational study

Gender Issues in Physiotherapy in Quebec, Canada

Purpose

This study examines gender differences in the physiotherapy (PT) profession in the province of Quebec regarding: (1) areas of practice; (2) roles associated with the advancement of the profession; (3) formal disciplinary complaints; and (4) interests and competency perceptions of PT students.

Methods

We collected data from the Canadian Institute of Health Information, the Quebec Professional Order of Physiotherapy, Quebec university public Internet sites, and PT associations. We also surveyed PT students at the Université de Montréal.

Results

The PT workforce in Quebec was 76.6% women. The presidents of the four main PT associations were men. In the five university programmes, the percentage of male and female physiotherapists in tenure track positions was 46% and 54%, respectively. There were more sanctioned complaints of sexual misconduct and not maintaining continuing education for male physiotherapists, while more women were sanctioned for problems with documentation and billing. Among students, men were more interested in becoming administrators, but neither men nor women had a strong interest in research.

Conclusions

Male physiotherapists make up 23.4% of the PT workforce in Quebec but are more involved in leadership positions in the profession than women.

Physical therapists' perceptions of sexual boundaries in clinical practice in the United States

BACKGROUND

Physical therapists' perceptions of sexual boundaries in clinic settings in the United States have not been studied. Given the magnitude of potential consequences of sexual boundary violations, examination of this topic is imperative.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to describe the perceptions of sexual boundaries among licensed physical therapists in the United States.

METHODS

Licensed physical therapists from Arkansas, Kansas, Maine, Ohio, and Oregon were contacted by email and asked to complete a sexual boundaries questionnaire via Survey Monkey™; 967 surveys (7.3%) were returned.

RESULTS

While most physical therapists practice within the profession's Code of Ethics, there are practitioners who date current and former patients, and condone patients' sexual banter in the clinic. Almost half (42%) of the participants acknowledged feeling sexually attracted to a patient. While gender differences were seen throughout the analyses, generally, the demographic and professional variables did not account for meaningful variance. Results were similar to previous research on physiotherapists in other countries.

CONCLUSIONS

Sexuality is part of the physical therapy practice environment and physical therapists' understanding of sexual boundaries is ambiguous. These data can inform professional conversation on sexual boundaries in physical therapy practice leading to greater understanding and decreased potential for violations.