Hector Trevin, Balkaran Ramaa, Marchan Shivaughn M
Dental Intern, School of Dentistry, Mount Hope Medical Complex, Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, Champs Fleurs, Trinidad and Tobago.
Unit of Oral Diseases, School of Dentistry, Mount Hope Medical Complex, Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, Champs Fleurs, Trinidad and Tobago.
Port J Public Health. 2023 Feb 2;41(1):19-25. doi: 10.1159/000528858. eCollection 2023 May.
This study ascertained dental students' perceived educational experiences and attitudes toward patients with special needs at an English-speaking dental school in the Caribbean. A modified paper-based version of a previously validated survey instrument was used - Dental Students Attitudes' Towards the Handicapped Scale - on a convenience sample of all clinical students at the dental school. The instrument was composed of three parts. Part 1 collected demographic information detailing age, gender, and year of study. Part 2 collected perceived educational experiences, and part 3 collected information regarding student attitudes. Data were presented descriptively, and likelihood ratios were used on cross-tabulated data to examine attitudes between different year groups at an alpha level of 0.05. Student attitudes were generally good regarding patients with special needs. Only 41% of students felt confident treating special needs patients upon graduation. The curriculum which already includes robust didactic teaching in special needs dentistry should be supplemented with increased clinical exposure to patients with special needs during undergraduate dental education. This can lead to improvements in the attitude of dental students as well as their confidence in treatment. Earlier clinical exposure of students to patients with special needs in the clinical curriculum is required. Students should also be encouraged to comprehensively manage special needs patients, where possible within the framework of the competency-based training model.
本研究确定了加勒比地区一所英语授课牙科学院的牙科学生对有特殊需求患者的教育体验认知和态度。研究使用了一份经过修改的纸质版先前验证过的调查问卷——《牙科学生对残障人士的态度量表》，对该牙科学院所有临床学生的便利样本进行调查。该问卷由三部分组成。第一部分收集详细的人口统计学信息，包括年龄、性别和学习年份。第二部分收集感知到的教育体验，第三部分收集有关学生态度的信息。数据以描述性方式呈现，并对交叉列表数据使用似然比，以在0.05的显著性水平下检验不同年级组之间的态度。学生对有特殊需求患者的态度总体良好。只有41%的学生在毕业时对治疗有特殊需求的患者感到自信。本科牙科教育中已经包含特殊需求牙科方面扎实理论教学的课程，应增加对有特殊需求患者的临床接触进行补充。这可以改善牙科学生的态度及其治疗信心。需要在临床课程中让学生更早接触有特殊需求的患者。还应鼓励学生在基于能力的培训模式框架内，尽可能全面地管理有特殊需求的患者。
