Khami Mr, Murtomaa H, Razeghi S, Virtanen J I
Associate Professor, Dental Research Center, Department of Community Oral Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ; Institute of Dentistry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
J Dent (Tehran). 2012 Fall;9(4):189-95. Epub 2012 Dec 31.
To investigate attitudes of Iranian senior dental students towards preventive dentistry in relation to their background factors and self-perceived competency in providing preventive care.
In spring 2008, a questionnaire survey was conducted with all the senior dental students of seven randomly selected state dental schools in Iran. In addition to the respondents' age and gender, the voluntary questionnaire assessed the students' attitudes towards preventive dentistry by means of a seven-point semantic differential scale of nine qualities and their opposites, and their self-perceived competency in providing preventive care by five separate questions. To identify the underlying dimensions for attitude, a factor analysis with principle component method and varimax rotation was applied. Independent sample t-test served for statistical analysis. Of the 242 students receiving the questionnaire, 182 students (75%) responded. The mean age of the participants was 26 years and 42% of them were men.
Based on the factor analysis, which explained 60% of the total variance, two attitude dimensions were identified; the profession-related dimension and the health service-related dimension. Competency in giving preventive care in all the five specified areas was reported by 44% of the students with no significant gender differences. The mean for the dentist-related dimension was significantly higher among the students who reported competency in giving preventive care (P=0.005).
There is room for improvement in senior dental students' attitudes towards preventive dentistry. In order to create more positive attitudes for future dental professionals, there should be an early and sufficient exposure to preventive aspects of dentistry in the dental curricula.
探讨伊朗高年级牙科学生对预防牙科的态度与其背景因素以及自我感知的预防保健能力之间的关系。
2008年春季，对伊朗随机选取的7所国立牙科学校的所有高年级牙科学生进行了问卷调查。除了受访者的年龄和性别外，这份自愿填写的问卷通过一个由9种特质及其反义词组成的七点语义差异量表来评估学生对预防牙科的态度，以及通过5个单独的问题来评估他们自我感知的预防保健能力。为了确定态度的潜在维度，采用了主成分法和方差最大化旋转的因子分析。独立样本t检验用于统计分析。在收到问卷的242名学生中，182名学生（75%）进行了回复。参与者的平均年龄为26岁，其中42%为男性。
基于解释了总方差60%的因子分析，确定了两个态度维度；与职业相关的维度和与健康服务相关的维度。44%的学生报告在所有五个指定领域都有提供预防保健的能力，且无显著性别差异。在报告有提供预防保健能力的学生中，与牙医相关维度的平均分显著更高（P = 0.005）。
高年级牙科学生对预防牙科的态度仍有改进空间。为了让未来的牙科专业人员形成更积极的态度，牙科课程中应尽早且充分地涉及牙科预防方面的内容。
