The Prevalence of Physicians Who Have Been Stalked: A Systematic Review

This systematic review, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, sought to determine the prevalence of physicians who had been stalked, including prevalence rates by specialty, to evaluate the emotional and physical consequences of being stalked and to appraise the quality of information pertaining to the prevalence data. Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria and were subjected to a formal review and critical appraisal. The review found a heterogeneity of prevalence rates of physicians who had been stalked, with rates ranging from 1.5 to 25.1 percent for 11 of the 12 studies that met the inclusion criteria and a statistical outlier rate of 68.5 percent for the 12th study. Overall, the findings suggest that an important minority of physicians across many specialties have been stalked, with occasional physical and, sometimes, very distressing psychological consequences.

Topics:
Practice Environment, Society and Culture

Was this resource helpful?