title: Experience with suspecting child maltreatment in the Norwegian public dental health services, a national survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Detecting and responding to child-maltreatment is a serious challenge and public health concern. In Norway, public dental health personnel (PDHP) have a mandatory obligation to report to child welfare services (CWS) if they suspect child-maltreatment. This study aimed to assess PDHP's frequency of reporting and failing to report to CWS and whether the frequencies varied according to personal, organizational and external characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  An electronic questionnaire was sent to 1542 public dental hygienists and dentists in Norway, 1200 of who responded (77.8%).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority 60.0%, reported having sent reports of concern to CWS throughout their career, 32.6% had suspected child-maltreatment but failed to report it in their career and 42.5% had sent reports during the three-year period from 2012 to 2014. The reporting frequency to CWS was influenced by PDHP's personal, organizational and external characteristics, while failure to report was influenced by personal characteristics.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compared to international studies, PDHP in Norway sends reports of concern and fails to report to CWS at relatively high rates. PDHP's likelihood of reporting was influenced by age, working experience, number of patients treated, size of the municipality and geographical region, while failure to report to CWS was influenced by working experience.
authors.affiliation: a Oral Health Centre of Expertise in Western Norway , Hordaland, Bergen , Norway.|c Department of Health Promotion and Development, Faculty of Psychology , University of Bergen , Bergen , Norway.
authors.forename: Ingfrid Vaksdal
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Brattabø
authors.affiliation: c Department of Health Promotion and Development, Faculty of Psychology , University of Bergen , Bergen , Norway.
authors.forename: Anette Christine
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Iversen
authors.affiliation: a Oral Health Centre of Expertise in Western Norway , Hordaland, Bergen , Norway.|b Department of Clinical Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry , University of Bergen , Bergen , Norway.
authors.forename: Anne Nordrehaug
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Åstrøm
authors.affiliation: c Department of Health Promotion and Development, Faculty of Psychology , University of Bergen , Bergen , Norway.
authors.forename: Ragnhild
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bjørknes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003752:Dental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003756:Dental Hygienists / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003815:Dentists / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019221:Mandatory Reporting; D009664:Norway; D011636:Public Health Dentistry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Child welfare; mandatory reporting; oral health; public health dentistry