Department of Psychiatry University Hospital Center Sestre milosrdnice
Abstract
The aim of this study was to assess the experience and knowledge regarding child abuse and neglect (CAN) amongst the Croatian dental practitioners. Self-administered, structured questionnaire was
posted to 500 Croatian dental practitioners, 82 (16.4%) of which had returned the questionnaire and were included in the final sample. The results indicate that dental practitioners have low CAN encounter rates in their practice: 52 (63.41%) never, 25 (30.48%) rarely and 5 (6.09%) sometimes. Amongst those who do, the average encounter rate of suspected CAN is M = 2.08 (SD = 1.97, min = 1, max = 8) and M = 1.33 (SD = 0.42, min = 1, max = 10) for the cases where they were sure of it. Although they find themselves confident of their
professional role and the role of the other professionals in the case of CAN they seem to fail to fulfil it, with only one of the participants ever reporting a CAN suspicion. In general, participants seem aware of the need and are willing to engage in further education, especially in the field of CAN prevention and recognition of it
