Malpani Suruchi, Arora Jatin, Diwaker Gunjeeta, Kaleka Priyajeet Kaur, Parey Aditi, Bontala Parinita
Department of Public Health, M.A. Rangoonwala College of Dental Sciences & Research Centre, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
Department of Public Health, M.A. Rangoonwala College of Dental Sciences & Research Centre, Pune, Maharashtra, India, Phone: +919224389700, e-mail:
J Contemp Dent Pract. 2017 Feb 1;18(2):162-169. doi: 10.5005/jp-journals-10024-2009.
Child abuse and neglect (CAN) is a significant global problem with a serious impact on the victims throughout their lives. Dentists have the unique opportunity to address this problem. However, reporting such cases has become a sensitive issue due to the uncertainty of the diagnosis. The authors are testing the knowledge of the dentists toward CAN and also trying to question the efforts of the educational institutions to improve this knowledge for the better future of the younger generation.
Questionnaire data were distributed to 1,106 members regarding their knowledge, professional responsibilities, and behavior concerning child abuse.
There were 762 responses to the questionnaire, yielding a response rate of 68.9%. Although dentists consider themselves able to identify suspicious cases, only a small percentage of the participants correctly identified all signs of abuse and 76.8% knew the indicators of child abuse. Most of them were willing to get involved in detecting a case and about 90% believed that it is their ethical duty to report child abuse. Only 7.2% suspected an abuse case in the past. The numbers indicate a lack of awareness about CAN in these participants. No differences were observed between sexes, year of graduation, types of license, frequency at which children were treated, and formal training already received.
A large proportion of child physical abuse cases go undocumented and unreported. The data showed that not all dental care providers and students were prepared to fulfill their legal and professional responsibilities in these situations.
There should be modifications in the dental school curriculum focusing on educational experiences regarding child abuse to strengthen their capability to care and protect children.
虐待和忽视儿童是一个重大的全球性问题，对受害者的一生都会产生严重影响。牙医有独特的机会来解决这个问题。然而，由于诊断的不确定性，报告此类病例已成为一个敏感问题。作者正在测试牙医对虐待和忽视儿童问题的了解程度，并试图质疑教育机构为改善年轻一代未来状况而提升这方面知识所做的努力。
向1106名成员分发了关于他们对虐待儿童的知识、职业责任和行为的问卷数据。
问卷共收到762份回复，回复率为68.9%。尽管牙医认为自己能够识别可疑病例，但只有一小部分参与者能正确识别出所有虐待迹象，76.8%的人知道虐待儿童的指标。他们中的大多数人愿意参与发现此类病例，约90%的人认为报告虐待儿童是他们的道德责任。过去只有7.2%的人怀疑过虐待病例。这些数据表明这些参与者对虐待和忽视儿童问题缺乏认识。在性别、毕业年份、执照类型、治疗儿童的频率以及已接受的正规培训方面未观察到差异。
很大一部分儿童身体虐待案件未被记录和报告。数据显示，并非所有牙科护理人员和学生都准备好在这些情况下履行其法律和职业责任。
牙科学校课程应进行修改，重点关注有关虐待儿童的教育经验，以增强他们照顾和保护儿童的能力。
