Dentists’ Competence and Knowledge on Domestic Violence and How to Improve It—A Review

Jana Lauren Bregulla, Marcel Hanisch and Bettina Pfleiderer
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Jana Lauren Bregulla: Department for Prosthodontics and Biomaterials, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, University Hospital Muenster, Building W 30, 48149 Muenster, Germany
Marcel Hanisch: Research Unit Rare Diseases with Orofacial Manifestations, Department of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, University Hospital Muenster, Building W 30, 48149 Muenster, Germany
Bettina Pfleiderer: Clinic for Radiology, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, University Hospital Muenster, Building A 16, Medical Faculty University of Muenster, 48129 Muenster, Germany

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 7, 1-17

Abstract: Domestic violence (DV) is an important public health topic with a high prevalence in society. Dentists are also frontline responders to DV, as they not only treat victims of DV with dental injuries, but they can also screen for the presence of DV because they see patients for regular check-ups. Using the WHO definition, which describes domestic violence as intimate partner violence, 17 papers could be included in our analyses. The results of this review clearly indicated that although dentists, as members of the health care sector, are important frontline responders to DV, they are neither trained adequately at medical school nor do most feel competent enough to ask victims about DV or support them as needed. DV is often not taught at dentistry schools at all. The aims of this review were to provide an overview of existing literature on dentists’ knowledge and beliefs regarding DV, whether and how DV is taught in medical education and to give recommendations on how to improve the education of dentists on this topic. Based on our findings, we recommend that DV education should be mandatory at dentistry schools and in further training for dentists with a focus on communication with victims, how DV can be identified and how to support victims well.

Keywords: domestic violence; intimate partner violence; dentistry; domestic violence education; screening (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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