Self-reported attitudes and perceptions regarding child abuse among Palestinian dentists: a cross-sectional study

Given the prevalence of physical abuse toward the head and face, dental care settings are frequently the first point of contact for victims of violence. Dentists, like other medical practitioners, have a primary responsibility to safeguard patient health and life, hence they can be crucial in identifying and reporting violent victims. Therefore, this study was directed to assess the attitudes and perceptions of Palestinian dentists regarding child abuse and to investigate professional characteristics associated with the identification of suspected child abuse.

A questionnaire was sent to the 745 dentists of Palestine and 380 (51.0%) were returned. Demographic data, profiles of dentists, information regarding their knowledge and attitudes concerning child abuse, and the obstacles that may stop them from reporting abuse cases were collected. Descriptive analysis was performed, and associations were tested by chi-square and Fisher's exact tests.

Most dentists were general practitioners (88.9%), nine of whom were boarded paediatric dentists. 217 (58.2%) considered themselves fit to identify signs of abuse even so, 93.5% do not report the abuse cases. A statistically higher proportion of specialist dentists, working in the public sector, having more practice and who have children had suspected cases of child abuse.

Although dentists considered themselves able to identify cases of child maltreatment, a high proportion of them do not report the abuse cases, this is related to many factors, such as less experience, little information, no training, and less confidence to report child abuse. Improved training in forensic and legal dentistry is needed, together with the establishment of detection and reporting protocols.