Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences, School of Dentistry, University of California, San Francisco, 707 Parnassus Avenue, Box 0758, San Francisco, CA 94143-0758;.
J Dent Educ. 2014 Mar;78(3):465-72.
African American, Hispanic/Latina, and American Indian/Alaska Native persons are markedly underrepresented racial and ethnic groups (UREG) in the dental hygiene profession. The purpose of this study was to survey UREG dental hygiene students to determine their perceptions of the barriers and facilitators that influenced their decision to enter the dental hygiene profession. Participants were eighty-four UREG students attending entry-level dental hygiene programs across the state of California. We conducted face-to-face interviews using a survey guide that consisted of forty-two mostly closed-ended questions. Most (57 percent) participants reported that they had either perceived or experienced barriers: primarily costs associated with the program and the lack of role models in their race/ethnicity. Almost all participants reported that there had been a person, mainly a dental professional, who influenced them to become a dental hygienist; 62 percent of these individuals were reported to be from a similar UREG group as the participant. Funding (57 percent) and emotional support from family and friends (87 percent) were the predominant facilitators employed by the participants to overcome barriers. Based on these results, we recommend three strategies to recruit more UREG students into the dental hygiene profession: more extensive outreach programs, enhanced mentoring by UREG dental professionals, and a modified admission process.
非裔美国人、西班牙裔/拉丁裔和美洲印第安人/阿拉斯加原住民在牙科保健行业中的代表性明显不足。本研究的目的是调查 UREG 牙科保健专业的学生，以确定影响他们选择进入牙科保健行业的障碍和促进因素的看法。参与者是来自加利福尼亚州各地的参加入门级牙科保健计划的 84 名 UREG 学生。我们使用包含 42 个主要封闭式问题的调查指南进行了面对面访谈。大多数（57%）参与者报告说，他们已经意识到或经历了障碍：主要是与该计划相关的费用以及缺乏与他们种族/族裔相关的榜样。几乎所有参与者都报告说，有一个人，主要是一名牙科专业人士，影响他们成为一名牙科保健师；其中 62%的人被报告为与参与者来自类似的 UREG 群体。资金（57%）和来自家人和朋友的情感支持（87%）是参与者克服障碍的主要促进因素。基于这些结果，我们建议采取三种策略来招募更多的 UREG 学生进入牙科保健行业：更广泛的外展计划、由 UREG 牙科专业人员提供的强化指导以及修改后的入学流程。
