Perspectives towards child abuse and neglect among dental practitioners in Belagavi city: A cross‑sectional study
نویسندگان
1 Department of Public Health Dentistry, Government Dental College, Kozhikode, Kerala, India
2 Department of Public Health Dentistry, KLE VK Institute of Dental Sciences, Belgaum, Karnataka, India
3 Department of Public Health Dentistry, KLE VK Institute of Dental Sciences, Belgaum, Karnataka, India
doi
چکیده
BACKGROUND: Child abuse (CA) is prevalent in every segment of society and is witnessed in allsocial, ethnic, religious, and professional strata. In this situation, dentists are in an ideal position tohelp detect signs of CA and should be able to recognize those signs.AIM: To assess the perspectives toward CA and neglect among dental practitioners of Belagavi city.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross‑sectional survey was conducted among 102 dentalpractitioners. The data were collected by self‑administered structured questionnaire. Data wereanalyzed using descriptive analyses for responses to each question, and Chi‑square test was appliedto test the association.RESULTS: 59.8% had learned the topic of CA and neglect as a student. Overall, 16 participantshave recognized suspicious case of CA and neglect in their dental office. Only 34.3% had knowledgeregarding the findings pointing to CA and neglect, and 96% had reported that there are barriersregarding reporting the same. 93% are of opinion that the topic is of utmost importance and moretraining is required in this aspect.CONCLUSION: Training and continuing dental education programs should be tailored to the specificneeds of all professionals to diagnose, report, and prevent CA.
