Developing a national dental education research strategy: priorities, barriers and enablers

Eleven-year experience implementing a dental undergraduate research programme in a prestigious dental school in China: Lessons learned and future prospects

OBJECTIVE

To summarise the lessons learned from implementing a dental undergraduate research programme over the past eleven years and identify key elements to guarantee the success of dental undergraduate research in the future.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

An overview of 80 research projects from 2007 to 2017 was provided, consisting of 239 participating undergraduates and 47 faculty advisors. Students' academic performance was compared between participating and non-participating undergraduates. An anonymous questionnaire was designed and distributed to participants, with VAS satisfaction assessment, Likert-scale items and open-ended questions. Questions focused on overall satisfaction, motivation, benefits to student career development and essential elements for the dental undergraduate research programme in the future.

RESULTS

The undergraduate participants had significantly better scores of GPAs (3.41 vs 3.21; P < 0.0001), obtained more awards on the honour rolls (0.53 vs 0.30; P = 0.0171) and published more peer-reviewed articles (1.62 vs 1.31; P = 0.0253) than non-participants. Seventy-two undergraduates (75.79%) and thirty-eight advisors (80.85%) responded to the questionnaire. The overall satisfaction was scored as 78.18/100 and 72.36/100 amongst advisors and students, respectively. Interest was considered the best motivation for participation by students (3.81/5.00) and advisors (4.00/5.00). The research programme was beneficial to students' overall career development. Essential roles played by the dental school, faculty and undergraduates were suggested to improve the research environment.

CONCLUSION

The dental undergraduate research programme has positive effects on students' academic performance. The support of the dental school, the engagement of qualified faculty, the interest and autonomy of students and camaraderie amongst these three key elements are essential for the research programme in the future.

Setting priorities for health education research: A mixed methods study

Introduction: Identifying priority research topics that meet the needs of multiple stakeholders should maximize research investment. Aim: To identify priorities for health education research. Methods: A three-stage sequential mixed methods study was conducted. Priorities for health education research were identified through a qualitative survey with 104 students, patients, academics, and clinicians across five health sciences and 12 professions (stage 1). These findings were analyzed using framework analysis and transposed into a quantitative survey whereby 780 stakeholders rated and ranked the identified priorities. Descriptive statistics identified priorities, exploratory factor analysis grouped priorities and differences between stakeholders were determined using Mann-Whitney U tests (stage 2). Six individual or group interviews with 16 participants (stage 3) further explicated the results from previous stages. Results: Of 30 priorities identified, the top were: how best to ensure students develop the required skills for work; how to promote resiliency and well-being in students; and ensuring the curriculum prepares students for work. For the majority of priorities, no significant differences were found between different stakeholder groups. Conclusions: These findings will be used to inform health educational research strategy both locally and nationally. Further research should explore if setting priorities can be translated effectively into education research policy and practice.

Needs assessment and research priorities in the oral and dental health with health promotion approach in Iran

BACKGROUND

Today, the scope of dental activities is a broad range from the needs assessment for epidemiological studies to the implementation of comprehensive programs for the prevention of oral diseases at various levels of the society. This study aimed to identify and prioritize the need researches in the field of oral and dental health in a dental hospital in Tehran, Iran.

METHODS

This applied research was a mixed methods study carried out in Tehran, Iran, in 2018. The data gathering tool included a data collection form used for reviewing the documents, a semi-structured interview, and an open questionnaire. MAXQDA 10.0, Expert Choice 11.0, and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) software were used for analyzing the collected data.

RESULTS

After analyzing the results of the qualitative phase, 171 research topics in 6 areas were obtained, including 44 topics in "dental clinical care and treatment," 37 topics in "health and prevention," 19 topics in "education and health promotion," 37 topics in "management of dental care delivery," 16 topics in "policy and its requirements," and 18 topics in "dentistry materials, equipment and technologies."

CONCLUSION

According to the results, it can be recommended that the research resources should be allocated based on the priorities identified by the present study so that the studied hospital has the highest dynamic performance in achieving its goals and objectives.