Motivation to Follow a Career in Dentistry of Students in Three South-East European Countries

Unveiling motives for dentistry studies: psychometric validation of a comprehensive questionnaire among aspiring dental students

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study is to develop and validate a questionnaire for dental students in Ecuador to assess their reasons to study dentistry.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A 25-item questionnaire was developed by the authors based on similar studies and a qualitative study. The questionnaire had five theoretical factors: economic, professional, vocational, social and academic reasons for study. In the first two samples, exploratory factor analysis was performed to identify the structure, and the models obtained were compared with confirmatory factor analysis in the third sample.

RESULTS

Three samples were used, sample A with 201 participants, sample B with 623 participants, and sample C with 596 participants. Two-thirds of the participants were female and almost one-third were from coast region. The EFA applied in sample A resulted in a five-factor model with 18 items; in contrast, a three-factor model was obtained from sample B. According to the CFA in sample C, the best model was explained by three factors: labor, vocational and academic reasons. Considering two items to cross-load in labor and vocational factors, which are theoretically justified.

CONCLUSION

This study presents a 12-item questionnaire that assesses labor, vocational and academic reasons for studying dentistry in an Ecuadorian population.

Effect of morality or capitalist ideology in choosing dentistry as a career in Türkiye: a cross sectional study

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have provided important findings on the profession of dentistry and the motivators for choosing dentistry. This study has attempted to contribute to this accumulation by using a sociocultural perspective and interpreting the relationships among motivators from this perspective in a large Turkish sample. The aim of this study was to investigate what motivates dental students to choose dentistry as a career in Türkiye.

METHODS

First-year dental students from different dental schools were included in a descriptive cross-sectional study. The questionnaire included sections covering demographics, motivators and career satisfaction. A total of 919 students from 29 different state dental schools and four private dental schools participated. Descriptive statistics such as percentages, means and standard deviations were used to summarize the sociodemographic information and the distribution of the motivators. Factorial analysis was carried out for the structural status of the questionnaire items. The relationships between the motivators were analyzed using Pearson's correlation.

RESULTS

Among the 919 students, 64.2% were female, and 35.8% were male. Half of them chose dentistry after seeing their higher education institution's examination results, while the other half had already considered it a career during their preuniversity years. Communicating with people, artistic skills, and helping others were the main motivators for students to choose dentistry as a career in Türkiye, and students' overall career satisfaction was moderately high. The strongest correlations were between communication with people and benefits (r =.74), between communication with people and helping others (r =.71), between communication with people and artistic skills (r =.66), between artistic skills and benefits (r =.69), between artistic skills and helping others (r =.65), between dental experience and benefits (r =.51), between dental experience and helping others (r =.50), and between benefits and helping others (r =.71).

CONCLUSION

Helping others, artistic skills, communicating with people, and benefits were the most important factors motivating dental students to choose a career, and positive relationships were detected between these four factors. This information may help to develop more effective career guidance and mentorship strategies for dental students.

Motivations and future plans of the final year students in a Chinese dental school

BACKGROUND

Understanding dental students' future career choice and motivation could provide beneficial references for both educators and students, but there were few studies on students in a Chinese dental school. The study aimed to investigate Chinese final year dental students' the short-term and long-term plans, motivations, and identify the influence of gender on the future plans.

METHODS

A total of 265 final year dental school students of the School of Stomatology, China Medical University from 2016 through 2020 were invited to complete an anonymous, 27-item questionnaire. Moreover, almost all of questions were in multiple-choice formats. Data were categorized and analysed using chi-square comparative analyses.

RESULTS

88.3% of respondents decided to pursue a graduate degree after graduating from dental school. Moreover, the single most important reason influencing their plans was "eligible for better jobs" (42.8%). More females than males studied dentistry (222 vs 111), and gender had an influence on the choice of specialty.

CONCLUSIONS

This study listed the selection tendency and influencing factors of students in a Chinese dental school for the reference of educators and students. And the results could raise some useful influence and feedback effect on current health and education policy, and on the career development of practicing dentists or dental students.

Comparison of Preclinical Coursework Perception Among Dental Students from India and the Republic of North Macedonia

Background. The difference in the preclinical curriculum and teaching methodology between European and Southeast Asian countries has a great influence on the process of choosing which education model is predominant and, therefore, students’ opinion on the effectiveness of a preclinical coursework is diverse. The objective of the research was to assess the perception of the preclinical coursework in prosthodontics, conservative dentistry, and endodontics among Indian and North Macedonian students. Materials and Methods. This cross-sectional comparative study was carried out among 3rd-year students, final-year students and interns of dental schools of two respective countries. The data were collected in July 2021 using Google Form, a link to which was sent via available social media platforms. The data obtained were analyzed using SPSSv.21.0 (IBM) software. Results. The data on dental students’ perception of the preclinical coursework were obtained, analyzed, compared, and discussed. A total of 50% of Indian students stated preclinical exercises to be good to get knowledge about treating patients, whereas 47% of North Macedonian students felt the average level of knowledge needed for treating patient. Conclusions. In this study, the majority of the students were in favor of attending the preclinical course and understood its importance for building up their confidence, better understanding of the subject and better patient handling in future dental practice. However, there were different students’ opinions on the course content, its duration, exercises, faculty interaction, helpfulness of theory lectures that evidence essentiality to view dental studies from a student-centered perspective.