Conhecimento e atitudes de estudantes de odontologia sobre o abuso infantil: um estudo de revisão

Abstract

Child abuse is considered a global public health problem, as it violates the fundamental rights of children and adolescentes through physical, sexual, emotional, cognitive and/or psychological violence and neglect. Due to the high rate of oral and maxillofacial injuries in cases of physical abuse, the importance of education and training of dental students and dentists is recognized for the identification and notification of cases that constitute child abuse. Thus, this study aimed to review the literature about the knowledge and attitudes of dental students about maltreatment against children and adolescents. For this, articles indexed in the PubMed, Lilacs, SciELO and Scholar Google databases between the years 1998 and 2023 were reviewed, respecting the established exclusion criteria. In view of the studies reviewed in the literature, it was observed that the knowledge of dental students about child abuse is still limited and inadequate. Regarding attitudes, undergraduate students believe that it is part of the dentist's duty to detect and report cases of child abuse during clinical practice, but there is still a question about how and where to report the identified cases. It was also observed that there is a need to expand the knowledge of dental students, through innovative training initiatives that provide greater knowledge on the subject, in order to guarantee appropriate attitudes in the face of suspected or concrete cases of child abuse so that future professionals can play their responsible role in protecting children and adolescents.