Waring M B
University of Tennessee, College of Allied Health Sciences, Memphis.
J Dent Hyg. 1991 Feb;65(2):80-90.
Although many dental hygienists have considered pursuing a baccalaureate degree, many barriers intervene to prevent accomplishment of this goal. The external degree is one option that could be available to overcome some of the barriers to accessibility. An external program is one that makes education accessible to students in nontraditional ways. A characteristic of these programs is that students can usually pursue academic credit toward a degree without being physically present on the degree-granting campus for the majority of the program. This paper reports the results of a 1988 survey of certificate and associate degree dental hygienists' interest in an external baccalaureate degree completion program. A questionnaire was mailed to 213 certificate and associate degree dental hygienists in Tennessee who had expressed an interest in degree completion. Two hundred six questionnaires were returned for a response rate of 96.7%. In order to determine the potential success of such programs, the following factors were explored: the motivations or reasons for participating; program design factors that might encourage or deter participation; degree of employer support; and individual characteristics relevant to participation, such as personal commitment and demographic information. Geographic location, flexibility in scheduling, and accessibility to course work were the program design factors most important to the likely participants. Likely participants indicated that they wanted to return to complete their baccalaureate degrees for personal satisfaction, for the status of the degree, and to increase their knowledge and skill in dental hygiene. They indicated that they did not want to change the focus of their careers. The area of study rated as most important was advanced clinical dental hygiene. The likely participants were found to resemble other nontraditional students. They averaged 34 years of age, were married with children living at home, and were able to study on a part-time basis only. The analysis of the data obtained from the questionnaire led to the conclusion that external program design factors would be essential for most certificate and associate degree dental hygienists to participate in a baccalaureate degree completion program.
尽管许多牙科保健员都考虑过攻读学士学位，但存在许多障碍阻碍了这一目标的实现。外部学位是一种可以用来克服一些获取障碍的选择。外部项目是一种以非传统方式为学生提供教育机会的项目。这些项目的一个特点是，学生通常可以在大部分课程中无需实际到授予学位的校园上课就能获得学位所需的学分。本文报告了1988年对证书和副学士学位牙科保健员对外部学士学位完成项目兴趣的调查结果。一份问卷被邮寄给田纳西州213名表示有兴趣完成学位的证书和副学士学位牙科保健员。共收到206份问卷，回复率为96.7%。为了确定此类项目的潜在成功率，探讨了以下因素：参与的动机或原因；可能鼓励或阻碍参与的项目设计因素；雇主支持程度；以及与参与相关的个人特征，如个人承诺和人口统计信息。地理位置、课程安排的灵活性以及课程作业的可获取性是对潜在参与者最重要的项目设计因素。潜在参与者表示，他们希望为了个人满足感、学位地位以及提高牙科保健方面的知识和技能而回来完成学士学位。他们表示不想改变自己的职业重点。被评为最重要的研究领域是高级临床牙科保健。研究发现，潜在参与者与其他非传统学生相似。他们平均年龄为34岁，已婚，家中有孩子，并且只能兼职学习。对问卷所得数据的分析得出结论，外部项目设计因素对于大多数证书和副学士学位牙科保健员参与学士学位完成项目至关重要。
