Perception and conduct of academics of Dentistry in front of cases of violence against women

Abstract

Introduction: This study seeks to emphasize the importance of a special attention regarding the behavior and perception of the dental students from the third to the fifth year, regarding the cases of violence against women, so that they can practice their profession with a more human look. Objective: This study aimed to analyze the behavior and perception of third to fifth year dental students regarding cases of violence against women. Methodology: This was a descriptive, observational, cross-sectional approach whose data collection occurred between September and October 2020, through an electronic questionnaire forwarded through Whatsapp groups. Results: The percentage of students who claimed to have already witnessed some violence against women was 44.1%. Half this percentage reported they did not interfere. The findings regarding the cause were impunity (61.0%), chemical and alcoholic dependence (55.9%) and psychiatric problems (54.2%). In the group of other factors, the most cited was sexism (11.9%). The majority (96.6%) stated that women are more affected, and 72.9% answered that head and neck are the most frequent regions of trauma. Among the students, 61.0% reported they had received guidance on how to act making use of some means of communication (45.8%) and 10.2% was instructed during graduation. Some students (3.4%) stated that they had already identified cases of violence against women in the college clinic. However, 44.1% claimed they did not know what a compulsory notification is. All agreed on the need to document both the lesions identified and the care provided, so that medical records could be used as evidence. Conclusions: Although most students have already received guidance on how to act, it can be observed that improvements are still necessary regarding expertise inherent to the identification and professional performance of the cases examined.