International Campus, School of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Department of Community Oral Health, School of Dentistry, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
BMC Oral Health. 2023 Jan 26;23(1):45. doi: 10.1186/s12903-023-02757-x.
Dental curriculums require regular revision to stay up to date in scientifical and societal fields. Senior dental students are among the main stakeholders of such curriculums. The present study investigated the opinions of Iranian senior dental students regarding the adequacy of their dentistry program and the national dental curriculum in training a competent dentist, the program's content, and its structure.
A previously designed and validated questionnaire on the opinion of senior dental students regarding curriculum adequacy was sent to a representative in each of the country's dental schools. Before the COVID pandemic terminated data collection, a total of 16 schools (438 students) managed to respond (37%). The questionnaire asked the students to assess the adequacy of the training received in curriculum's theoretical and practical competencies with the help of a five-point Likert scale that ranged from "Completely inadequate" to "Completely adequate". It also questioned them on its teaching methods and intensity. SPSS software version 24 and Chi-square test served for statistical analysis.
In total, the study has 438 participants, 245 female and 193 male. Significant sex differences were spotted in the responses concerning both theoretical and practical training. Regarding general training adequacy, 50 (22.6%) female students and 50 male ones (30.7%), P = 0.08 agreed that the program was acceptable. The numbers for students of old (more than 15 years of activity) and new schools were 47 (21.7%) and 53 (31.7%), respectively (P = 0.03). Nearly one-third deemed the teaching methods appropriate. Regarding the duration of curriculum phases, 33 students (8.3%) believed that basic science required extension, while 108 (28.6%) and 266 (69.1%) reported such need for pre-clinical and clinical phases. The school's years of activity emerged as significant, as 38.1% of students from new schools versus 21.7% of those from old ones deemed the extension of pre-clinical phase necessary (P < 0.001).
A significant number of Iranian senior dental students found the undergraduate dental curriculum inadequate regarding competencies, content, and teaching. Further investigations will determine whether it's the curriculum or its implementation that warrants revision.
牙科学课程需要定期修订，以跟上科学和社会领域的步伐。高年级牙科学学生是这些课程的主要利益相关者之一。本研究调查了伊朗高年级牙科学学生对其牙科学课程和国家牙科课程在培养合格牙医方面的充分性、课程内容及其结构的看法。
在 COVID 大流行终止数据收集之前，共向该国每所牙科学校的一名代表发送了一份关于高年级牙科学学生对课程充分性的意见的预先设计和验证的问卷。共有 16 所学校（438 名学生）成功回复（37%）。问卷要求学生在课程的理论和实践能力方面，用五分制（从“完全不足够”到“完全足够”）来评估他们所接受的培训的充分性。它还询问了他们对教学方法和强度的看法。SPSS 软件版本 24 和卡方检验用于统计分析。
共有 438 名参与者，其中 245 名女性和 193 名男性。在理论和实践培训方面，男女学生的回答存在显著的性别差异。关于一般培训的充分性，50 名（22.6%）女性学生和 50 名（30.7%）男性学生认为该计划是可以接受的。老（活动时间超过 15 年）和新学校的学生人数分别为 47 名（21.7%）和 53 名（31.7%）（P=0.03）。近三分之一的人认为教学方法合适。关于课程阶段的持续时间，33 名学生（8.3%）认为基础科学需要延长，而 108 名（28.6%）和 266 名（69.1%）学生报告说，临床前和临床阶段也需要延长。学校的活动年限是一个显著因素，因为新学校的 38.1%的学生与老学校的 21.7%的学生相比，认为需要延长临床前阶段（P<0.001）。
相当数量的伊朗高年级牙科学学生认为本科牙科学课程在能力、内容和教学方面都不够充分。进一步的调查将确定需要修订的是课程本身还是其实施。
