Child physical abuse: awareness and practices of medical and dental doctors in Pakistan

Abstract Objectives: To determine the awareness and practices of medical and dental doctors in detecting and reporting suspected cases of child physical abuse. Methods: A cross-sectional study was done from November 2017 to June 2018 among medical and dental doctors practising in public and private hospitals across Pakistan. Using convienence sampling technique a structured questionnaire was administered. The questionnaire addresses knowledge of the social indicators of child physical abuse, response to child physical abuse, and actions taken by doctors when they believe a child abuse case has been decided. Descriptive analysis was done, and Chi-square test was used for the association of knowledge about child physical abuse and sex. P-value < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: Out of total 575 doctors, 347 (60.3%) were males and 446 (77.6%) work in private hospitals. The majority of doctors 384 (66.8%) had