Child abuse/neglect, the role of the dentist

: a scoping review

Abstract

Introduction : Dental professionals play a significant role in identifying and reporting child abuse and neglect. However, several studies have pointed out non-reporting behaviour among these professionals, evidencing difficulties identifying and reporting suspected cases. Objective: This scoping review aimed to explore frequency and possible barriers in identifying and reporting by dental professionals and to identify associated factors. There is a need to highlight the identification of abuse in dental settings and the need of knowledge improvement to tackle such cases if they come across one. The main objective of this scoping review is to demonstrate the reasons of (non)recognizing and
(non)reporting child abuse and neglect cases. Methods: This review was conducted in the Pubmed, Scopus, and VHL databases between October 2022 and March 2023. Analytical studies in English were selected. Protocol for scoping reviews proposed by members of the Joanna Briggs Institute was used, and the Extension for PRISMA- ScR checklist was adopted. The search strategy was focused on the use of MeSH terms and key words to find relevant publications,
followed by an abstract and full-text review. Results: A total of 99 articles and 12 grey literature references were included in our literature review. Mapping research shows the need for a better approach in relation to dentists’ knowledge in recognizing cases of child abuse in daily practice and how to deal with the situation. The selected articles highlighted the worldwide common problems, showing the great importance of education in this field. Conclusion: The review enhances the need of abuse and neglect issue awareness in dental profession. As the amount of unpreparedness is considerable high, an improvement of education about child abuse/neglect in recognizing and reporting to
intercept abusing and protect vulnerable children, are strongly recommended,
professionally and institutionally.

Date of Award	27 Jul 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Cristina Figueiredo (Supervisor), Ivana Čuković-Bagic (Co-Supervisor) & Andreia Sofia de Paiva Figueiredo (Co-Supervisor)