Bioprinting’s Introduction within the Context of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Malaysia’s Persons with Disabilities Act 2008 through the Right to Science

Impact of the special care dentistry education on Malaysian students' attitudes, self-efficacy and intention to treat people with learning disability

INTRODUCTION

Special Care Dentistry (SCD) education has been introduced in Malaysia, but there are limited number of studies about its impact to students. Thus, this study aimed to explore the level of students' readiness to treat people with learning disability (PWLD) based on their attitudes, self-efficacy and intention to treat.

METHODS

A questionnaire was developed based on the Dental Student Attitude to the Handicapped Scale, Scale of Attitudes to the Disabled Persons and Health Action Process Approach. The self-administered, validated questionnaire was tested for reliability (Cronbach's alpha = .71-.81), before being distributed to clinical dental students of both genders from two universities (University A, n = 176 and University B, n = 175). Quantitative data were analysed via t test and ANOVA (p < .05) using the SPSS software.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference in mean total attitude score between the universities, although dental students from University A, who mostly reported having received hands-on clinical experience in SCD and exposure to Disability Equality Training (DET), showed significantly higher individual mean attitude score for 5 (out of 24) attitudinal items. The mean total self-efficacy score and individual mean self-efficacy score for 1 (out of 5) self-efficacy items were also significantly higher amongst University A dental students. The intention to treat PWLD was not significantly influenced by university, gender or year of study.

CONCLUSION

Incorporation of SCD education in the undergraduate curriculum, with hands-on clinical experience and exposure to DET, is recommended to equip students to be efficient oral healthcare providers for PWLD.

Handheld bioprinting strategies for in situ wound dressing

Handheld bioprinting has recently attracted considerable attention as a technology to deliver biomaterials and/or cells to injury sites by using freeform, user-instructed deposition approaches, specifically targeted towards in situ wound dressing and healing. In this review, we present a concise introduction of handheld bioprinting, and a thorough discussion on design and manufacture of handheld bioprinters and choice over bioinks. Finally, the advantages, challenges, and prospective of the said technologies are elaborated. It is believed that handheld bioprinting will play an essential role in the field of in situ wound healing mainly due to its excellent portability, user-friendliness, cost-effectiveness, and amenability to various wound needs.