Cobban S J, Edgington E M, Myrick F, Keenan L
Dental Hygiene Program, Department of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Int J Dent Hyg. 2009 Feb;7(1):10-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1601-5037.2008.00315.x.
Historically, dental hygiene has adopted theory and research from other health disciplines, without adequately modifying these concepts to reflect the unique dental hygiene practice context, leaving dental hygiene's research and theory base underdeveloped. Dental hygiene has yet to articulate its epistemological assumptions--the nature, scope and object of dental hygiene knowledge--or to fully describe the patterns of knowing that are brought to practice.
This paper uses a method of inquiry from philosophy to begin the discourse about dental hygiene ways of knowing. In nursing, Carper identified four fundamental patterns of knowing: empirics or the science of nursing; aesthetics or the art of nursing; personal knowledge and ethical or moral knowledge. These patterns were used to explore this concept within dental hygiene.
There is more to the nature of dental hygiene knowledge and knowing than rote application of technique-related or research-based information in practice, including judgements about when and how to use different types of information that are used. Currently, empirical forms of knowledge seem to be disproportionately valued, yet evidence was found for all of Carper's four patterns of knowing.
Carper's work on patterns of knowing in nursing provided a useful framework to initiate the discourse on ways of knowing in dental hygiene. These results are submitted for others to challenge, refine and extend, for continuing the discussion. Dental hygiene leaders and scholars need to engage in discourse about extending the epistemological assumptions to reflect reality.
从历史角度来看，口腔卫生学一直采用其他健康学科的理论和研究成果，却未充分调整这些概念以反映口腔卫生实践的独特背景，导致口腔卫生学的研究和理论基础发展不足。口腔卫生学尚未阐明其认识论假设——口腔卫生知识的本质、范围和对象——也未充分描述应用于实践中的认知模式。
本文采用哲学探究方法，开启关于口腔卫生学认知方式的论述。在护理学领域，卡珀确定了四种基本认知模式：实证知识或护理科学；审美知识或护理艺术；个人知识以及伦理或道德知识。本文运用这些模式在口腔卫生学领域探讨这一概念。
口腔卫生学知识和认知的本质不仅仅是在实践中机械应用与技术相关或基于研究的信息，还包括对何时以及如何使用所采用的不同类型信息的判断。目前，实证知识形式似乎受到了过高的重视，但已发现卡珀提出的所有四种认知模式的相关证据。
卡珀关于护理学认知模式的研究为开启口腔卫生学认知方式的论述提供了一个有用的框架。现将这些结果提交，以供他人质疑、完善和拓展，从而继续相关讨论。口腔卫生学领域的领导者和学者需要参与相关论述，以扩展认识论假设，使其反映现实情况。
