DT News - UK - UK dental students not informed about domestic violence

Search Dental Tribune

UK dental students not informed about domestic violence

According to the UK Office for National Statistics, an estimated 1.2 million women and 800,000 men experience domestic abuse every year. (Photograph: LoloStock/Shutterstock)

Thu. 21 August 2014

save

MANCHESTER, UK: Most victims of domestic violence have injuries around the head and neck region. Thus, dentists are in a prime position to spot signs of domestic abuse and to provide help to the victims. However, a recently published study has indicated that domestic violence is an under-taught subject in undergraduate dental curricula in the UK and Ireland.

The study found that undergraduate dental students in the UK and Ireland overall do not receive adequate teaching on recognising and managing domestic violence as part of their curricula. Although some schools recognise the importance of teaching, they have been unable to implement it because of a full curriculum and lack of appropriately trained staff, among other reasons.

The findings are based on the responses to a questionnaire sent to all dental schools in the UK and Ireland in 2007 and 2012, requesting information on whether the subject was taught, by which specialty it was taught, and whether schools felt it was important to include in the curriculum.

In 2007, 50 per cent of the responding schools educated students about domestic violence, mainly through oral surgery and paediatric dentistry departments. In 2012, only 45 per cent of the responding schools did so.

The study, titled “Domestic violence education for UK and Ireland undergraduate dental students: A five-year perspective”, was published in the August issue of the Journal of Dental Education. The research was conducted at the Liverpool University Dental Hospital and the University of Manchester’s School of Dentistry in collaboration with GSK Consumer Healthcare.

To post a reply please login or register
advertisement
advertisement