Dentists' knowledge about domestic violence against women: A questionnaire-based study

Background. Dentists are the first healthcare professionals to identify cases of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) with head and neck injuries. Objectives. The aim of this study was to assess dentists' knowledge regarding behavioral and physical findings in female victims of DVA. Material and methods. The study included 558 volunteer dentists who completed a two-part questionnaire designed to assess their knowledge and awareness of DVA against women. The first part of the questionnaire inquired about the participants' demographic data, including age, sex, specialty, and the duration of professional practice. The second part assessed 15 statements on a 5-point Likert scale, concerning both behavioral (5/15) and clinical aspects (10/15) of DVA. For each statement, if a minimum of 70% of respondents selected the same option, it was interpreted as being agreed upon by the participants. The level of statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results. Most of the participants were between the ages of 31 and 40 (29.1%). The study sample was predominantly female (70.4%), with 57.2% of the participants being married. The statement "Abused women tend to avoid eye contact" had the highest agreement rate (70.6%) for the behavioral assessments. However, the participants were mostly "undecided" on the remaining 4 statements in this section. In contrast, the agreement rate for 5 statements related to the clinical assessment of head, neck and intraoral injuries exceeded 70%. One-fifth of the behavioral assessment statements and half of the clinical assessment statements were negatively correlated with the age of the participants (p < 0.05). Conclusions. The findings of this study indicate that dentists can recognize and diagnose DVA symptoms to a certain extent. However, they may encounter difficulties in identifying the suspicious behavior that is indicative of DVA.