Abstract

Introduction: Health Care Professionals (HCP) are the first one wchildagnose the child abuse and neglect (CAN) and it is their moral responsibility to report child abuse. But there are many obstacles in the reporting of CAN by a dentist.
Objectives: This study was conducted to analyze the knowledge, attitude and practice on CAN among undergraduate dental (BDS) interns in a tertiary care hospital in India.
Method: A structured, validated online questionnaire link was mailed to 50 BDS interns for their response. The data was transferred to an excel sheet and subjected to descriptive statistical analysis.
Result: overall 100% response rate was observed from the participants. The majority of the interns (80%, n=40) agreed that dentist can diagnose and report the CAN but the knowledge regarding the legal act (66%, n=33) is less among the interns. Lack of knowledge regarding child abuse diagnosis (30%, n=15) and fear of legal involvement (62%, n=31) are the common reasons for not reporting CAN by interns.

Conclusion: The present study found that the knowledge regarding the CAN among undergraduate dental interns was adequate but still there are lacunae in reporting the cases by interns. Elaborative curriculum with the proper teaching of child abuse and its ethical and legal aspects in the undergraduate level is the need of the hour.

Keywords: Child abuse and neglect; Dentists role; Sexual abuse