Assessment of knowledge and attitudes of dental students in regard to child abuse in Turkey

Abstract

Introduction: Child abuse is a serious public problem. Signs of abuse are often present in the oro-facial region and dentists are in a strategic position to recognise and report suspected cases. The aim of this study was to investigate dental students' knowledge about and attitudes towards child abuse. Material and methods: This study was performed at the Faculty of Dentistry of the Ondokuz Mayis University. The data were collected through a self-report questionnaire administered to dental students (137 female/111 male) in three different dental classes (third, fourth and fifth study years) and grouped by considering those students who have been training in the school year of 2013. The definition of physical and social indicators of abuse, awareness regarding legal and ethical responsibilities, students' experience and requests made by students were evaluated by the students' response to questions put in the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were performed to analyse the questionnaire data. Results: The questionnaire completion rate was 100%. About 67.74% of the third year, 40.71% of the fourth year and 16.67% of the fifth year believed that they could detect child abuse cases. However, results indicated a major lack of knowledge of social indicators, signs of physical abuse and reporting procedure amongst all respondents. The assessment of the total correct answers exhibited significant differences amongst third-, fourth-and fifth-year students' answers. Fifth-year students had the highest rate of correct responses (P < 0.05). Most students wanted to receive more knowledge about this topic. Conclusion: Dental students in Turkey are not sufficiently prepared for their role in diagnosing suspected cases of child abuse.