Assistant Professor, Director of Ethics Curriculum and Director Pre-doctoral Practice Group, Department of General Practice, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry, Richmond, Virginia, USA.
Assistant Professor, Department of Dental Public Health and Policy, Oral Health Services Research Core, Philips Institute for Oral Health Research, School of Dentistry, Richmond, Virginia, USA.
J Dent Educ. 2020 May;84(5):566-577. doi: 10.1002/jdd.12041. Epub 2020 Jan 27.
Resilience is the ability to bounce back or recover from major life stressors. The aim of this study was to investigate resilience in dental students and how it may or may not vary across demographic characteristics such as gender, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, self-reported health, and parental educational level.
Data were collected from 151 dental students at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry with an anonymous survey that included the Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA) and various demographic variables. Associations between RSA and variables of interest were assessed using linear models.
Dental students demonstrated relatively high levels of resilience. Resilience was significantly associated with gender (with females showing more resilience than males (P = 0.0395)), race (P = 0.0025), overall health (P = 0.0101), and mental health (P < 0.0001). Results from Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) supported a 5-factor solution that explained 82.6% of the variability of resilience in the sample of dental students. The 5 factors were nearly identical to the 5 subscales originally described by the RSA demonstrating validity in this population. Overall health ratings were significantly related to resilience, suggesting that perceived resilience in dental students may protect against negative health outcomes. This study can inform internal and external support systems of dental students as well as institutional programmatic development to better support their educational experiences.
韧性是从重大生活压力中恢复或反弹的能力。本研究旨在调查牙科学生的韧性，以及它是否可能因性别、社会经济地位、种族/民族、自我报告的健康状况和父母教育水平等人口统计学特征而有所不同。
弗吉尼亚联邦大学牙科学院的 151 名牙科学生参与了这项匿名调查，该调查包括成人韧性量表（RSA）和各种人口统计学变量。使用线性模型评估 RSA 与感兴趣变量之间的关联。
牙科学生表现出相对较高的韧性水平。韧性与性别（女性比男性表现出更强的韧性（P=0.0395））、种族（P=0.0025）、整体健康（P=0.0101）和心理健康（P<0.0001）显著相关。探索性因素分析（EFA）的结果支持了 5 因素解决方案，该方案解释了样本中韧性的 82.6%的可变性。这 5 个因素几乎与 RSA 最初描述的 5 个分量表相同，在该人群中具有有效性。总体健康评分与韧性显著相关，表明牙科学生的韧性感知可能有助于预防负面健康结果。本研究可以为牙科学生的内部和外部支持系统以及机构项目发展提供信息，以更好地支持他们的教育体验。
