Child Abuse from the perspective of Dental Students

• Autor(a) principal: Busato, Claudia de Abreu
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Pereira, Teresa Cristina Rangel, Guaré, Renata Oliveira
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista da ABENO (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://revabeno.emnuvens.com.br/revabeno/article/view/394
• topic: Child Abuse. Dental Education. Dental Students.; Maus-tratos Infantis. Educação em Odontologia. Estudantes de Odontologia.

Violence against children does not occur only in developing countries and happens so frequently that it is sometimes trivialized. Children and adolescents are easy targets for acts of violence because they are frail and dependent. The aim of this study was to verify the knowledge of dental students, by means of questionnaires, regarding maltreatment in childhood and adolescence. Application of a questionnaire to dental students enrolled in the Dentistry course of the University of Planalto Catarinense and Federal University of Espírito Santo, with an approach to the concept and characteristics of maltreatment, conduct when faced with this, knowledge about the Child and Adolescent Statute (CAS), and the dentist's responsibility about notification of maltreatment. The data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics in absolute frequencies and percentages. In the research, 363 students participated. Of these 265 (73%) were of the female gender, and the mean age was 21.38 years (± 3.01). During the undergraduate period, 34,9% of the students affirmed they had not received any information about maltreatment in childhood and adolescence, and despite this, the majority (86,8%) felt they were capable of diagnosing cases of maltreatment. The students mentioned alterations in soft tissues (65,3%), dental traumas (48,5%), as characteristics related to maltreatment. Regarding making a complaint/pressing charges, only 30,3% mentioned the Guardian Council and 35,3% knew the meaning of "CAS". It was observed that students from the two Institutions could identify signs of maltreatment, but they needed more information about the notification of these events.