Knowledge , Attitudes and Educational Experiences of A Group of Egyptian Dental Students Regarding Physical Child Abuse :A Cross Sectional Study

Review of literature Databases and websites as PubMed, Google scholar were searched for relevant literature until October 2017 with key words "Child abuse, Child maltreatment, Physical child abuse, Violence against children, Dental students " .

Thomas et al., 2006 conducted a study to explore dental and dental hygiene students' educational experiences and knowledge toward child abuse. Data were collected by 233 dental (116 male/117 female) and 76 female dental hygiene students at the University of Michigan through a self -administrated questionnaire. The results showed that 94.7 %of the dental hygiene and 70.5 % of the dental students reported having learned about child abuse in classroom settings, and 15.8 %of the dental hygiene and 29.3 % of the dental students reported having learned about it in clinical settings .Only 5.5% of the dental and 16.7 %of the dental hygiene students defined child abuse correctly; 32.2 %of the dental and 13.2 %of the dental hygiene students did not know their legal responsibility concerning reporting child abuse and 82.4% of the dental and 78.9% of the dental hygiene students did not know where to report child abuse. Dental and dental hygiene curricula should be improved to ensure that students are well prepared for their role in child protection.

Al-Jundi et al., 2010 conducted a study to assess eductional experiences ,attitude and knowledge of Jordanian dental students toward child physical abuse. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire completed by 441 undergraduate and postgraduate dental students in both dental schools in Jordan. study indicated that both undergraduate and postgraduate dental students are not sufficiently prepared to undergo their role in protection of children from abuse.

Jordan et al., 2012 conducted a study to assess the educational experiences and knowledge of a group of Croatian dental students regarding child abuse and neglect. Questionnaires were completed by 544 students (153 male &391 female) from all six years at the University of Zagreb School of Dental Medicine with a response rate of 74.9%. The results indicate lack of knowledge of the signs of physical and sexual abuse of children. Students from more senior teaching years have a greater amount of knowledge related to child abuse and neglect compared to students from more junior teaching years. In conclusion, dental students should be better educated and prepared for their important role in protecting children from abuse .

Hashim et al., 2013 conducted a study to assess educational experience, attitudes and knowledge toward child physical abuse among a group of dental students in United Arab Emirates. a self-administered structured questionnaire completed by 578 under graduate dental students ,The results indicated that there was lack of knowledge of reporting procedure, signs of physical abuse and social indicators among all participants. Over 80 % of the students agreed that dentists should report abuse cases and 94.3 % of the participants believed they had an ethical duty to report child abuse. Most students indicated that their dental school was the main source of information on child physical abuse. The majority of the respondents expressed a need for further training.