Orenuga Omolola O, da Costa Oluranti O
Department of Child Dental Health, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria.
J Dent Educ. 2006 Sep;70(9):996-1003.
A cross-sectional study of a cohort of 197 clinical dental students in the four accredited dental schools in Nigeria was conducted to determine the sociodemographic characteristics of these dental students and their motives for the choice of dentistry. The results indicate that the number of female dental students in Nigeria is increasing, which reflects a trend well established in virtually all other nations. The vast majority of Nigerian dental students (97 percent) qualified for school based on their performance on the University Matriculation Examination. About one-third, 32.5 percent, indicated that dentistry was their first choice for a career. This choice was greatly influenced by family in 50 percent of this group of students. There were several factors that strongly influenced career choice among students who indicated that dentistry was their first choice: interest, prestige, good employment opportunity abroad, and regular work hours. The need to go into a prestigious and financially lucrative profession similar to medicine were the commonest reasons identified by the group of students for whom dentistry was not the first career choice. The motives for choosing dentistry as a career in this group of students seem to relate to an image of dentistry as a vehicle for the achievement of personal goals. It is recommended that high school students be encouraged to see dentistry first hand. This is because in countries such as Nigeria it is not unusual for a potential dental student to have never visited the dentist.
对尼日利亚四所经认可的牙科学院的197名临床牙科学生进行了一项横断面研究，以确定这些牙科学生的社会人口学特征及其选择牙科的动机。结果表明，尼日利亚女牙科学生的数量正在增加，这反映了几乎所有其他国家都已确立的一种趋势。绝大多数尼日利亚牙科学生（97%）是根据他们在大学入学考试中的成绩获得入学资格的。约三分之一（32.5%）的学生表示牙科是他们的首选职业。在这组学生中，50%的人的这一选择受家庭影响很大。在表示牙科是其首选职业的学生中，有几个因素对职业选择有很大影响：兴趣、声望、国外良好的就业机会和固定的工作时间。对于那些牙科不是首选职业的学生群体来说，进入一个与医学类似的有声望且经济上有利可图的职业是最常见的原因。这群学生选择牙科作为职业的动机似乎与牙科是实现个人目标的一种途径的形象有关。建议鼓励高中生亲自体验牙科。这是因为在尼日利亚这样的国家，潜在的牙科学生从未看过牙医的情况并不少见。
