ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Since child abuse and neglect are serious conditions which can potentially lead to inappropriate dental health, we conducted this qualitative study to define the factors influencing child abuse and neglect, which lead to oro-facial lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted by social services employees. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants to capture a range of experiences such as the physical abuse, sexual abuse, role of family in child abuse, age, and gender. RESULTS: Participants demonstrated a range of perceptions which lead to child abuse including hitting on the head and slapping. Often subsidiary to this view, several factors were mentioned that occasionally influenced child abuse. These factors appeared to be idiosyncratic but could be drawn together into three categories: Cultural lacks which includes poverty, cruelty of parents and addiction, psychological disorders, and separation in the family which was seen in most of the children. CONCLUSION: This study has identified a variety of factors influencing the incidence of child abuse. Therefore, dentists should meticulously pay attention to children who have these risk factors in order to discover child abuse events. Quantitative research would reveal the extent of these factors. Dentists' knowledge of their roles in managing cases suffering from abuse might need to be assessed to see if dentists need further education in this important area.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Family violence, including child abuse, neglect, and domestic violence, is a public health problem. The aim of this study was to provide data on prevalence and factors of Orofacial lesions relating child abuse in Iran to lend evidence to support preventing child abuse. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The overall approach was a case-note review of children having child abuse note, recording by personnel of social services. Research ethical approval was sought from the Central social service organization. This study was conducted in Isfahan, Iran (2011). RESULT: The mean age of children, when abuse had been occurred was 8 years (SD = 1.68), and there were approximately an equal number of boys and girls. Children had a high physical experience (66.1%).Of these children, at least 60% sustained trauma to the face and mouth. Emotional abuse was 77.1%, neglect was 64.1%, and lower experience of sexual abuse which was 4.1%. There was a strong relationship between gender and abuser which shows girls have been affected by stepfathers (P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Preliminary data suggest that there are strong evidence regarding the incidence of child abuse relating orofacial lesions which dentists should be aware of them. Future trials may draw on these useful baseline data to help their study design.
