ABSTRACT
The objective of the present systematic review was to evaluate the scientific evidence on the knowledge, attitudes, practices level (KAP) and education needs among dentists in the identification of clinical signs and notification of domestic violence (DV). Electronic searches were performed in PubMed/Medline, ScienceDirect, EBSCOHost, Scopus databases, and grey literature using the keywords ‘Domestic Violence’, ‘Abused Women’, ‘Dentistry’, ‘Oral health’, ‘Women’s Health Services’ and ‘Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice’. Cross-sectional or longitudinal studies, without restriction on publication year, published in English, using calibrated or validated questionnaires to assess the dentist KAP level and education needs for identification of clinical signs and notification of DV were considered. The Ottawa Scale was applied to assess the risk of bias. In the final analysis, 5 studies were included, conducted in the United States, France, Brazil and Pakistan. The total sample was 1735 general and specialist dentists. All studies showed that the participants had a low level of CAP in identifying clinical signs and reporting DV. In addition, 27% reported having identified at least one case in clinical practice. Most of participants stated that they had not received training on care for victims of DV. The studies had a low risk of bias. Scientific evidence suggests that dentists have a low level of KAP in the identification of clinical signs and notification of DV and have a high need for education in this area.