Strength of Motivation among Public and Private Dental Students for the Field of Education: A Comparative and Correlational Study.

OBJECTIVE

To compare and correlate the strength of motivation for the field of education among public and private dental students of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

STUDY DESIGN

Cross-sectional analytical study. Place and Duration of the Study: Khyber College of Dentistry (KCD), KMU Institute Dental Science (KIDS), Peshawar Dental College (PDC), and Dental Section, Women Medical College (DS,WMC) from October to December 2019.

METHODOLOGY

A multi-staged proportionate random sampling was used to enrol a calculated study population of 398 students. After following set criteria and taking informed written consent, a pre-designed performa including demographics and strength of motivation for medical school-revised (SMMS-R) questionnaire was distributed. Extracted data was analysed using SPSS version 25.0, where descriptive and inferential statistics were applied.

RESULTS

The mean age of the sample (398) was 19.24 ± 0.941 years, in which public and private sector students were 207 (52%) and 191(48%) respectively. Gender ratio was 1:5.4 for males and females. The intermediate score mean was 877 ± 75.6. The SMMS-R score had no significant difference in public and private sector with median of 3.3 (3.0-3.7) and 3.3 (2.9-3.5), respectively (p=0.883). SMMS-R was significantly correlated with ''willingness to sacrifice'' and had a maximum correlation coefficient (r=0.841).

CONCLUSION

There was no significant difference in the strength of motivation between public and private sector dental students. Furthermore, in overall correlational aspects, significant results were recorded. The study also showed no impact of last educational institute attended on motivational powers. Key Words: Motivation, Students, Dental, Strength of motivation for medical school - revised (SMMS-R), Public institute, Private institute.