A national survey of dental hygiene faculty perspectives on diversity, equity, and inclusion

Abstract

Purpose/objectives To investigate potential unconscious bias among dental hygiene educators and identify baseline perceptions of race and racism. Methods Dental hygiene programs in the USA were clustered into 4 geographic regions from which 2 programs were sampled from each region. The 20‐item, Color‐Blind Racial Attitudes Scale (CoBRAS) electronic survey was sent to educators from each of the selected programs in 2022. The CoBRAS instrument measures contemporary racism and stereotyping in 3 subcategories: Unawareness of Racial Privilege, Institutional Discrimination, and Blatant Racial Issues. Scores range from 20‐120, with higher scores indicating elevated levels of denial of racism. Descriptive statistics and one‐way ANOVA were performed. The level of significance was set to α = 0.05. Results Of the 172 potential respondents, 89 (52%) completed all of the survey questions. The majority of the respondents were White, female and from the Northeast (74.2%, 93.3%, and 61.8% respectively). The mean CoBRAS score (55.73) indicated moderate levels of color‐blind racial attitudes. Race was a significant variable in perceptions of racial dynamics and racism with statistically significant differences between groups by race and ethnicity as demonstrated by one‐way ANOVA (F[6,82] = 3.469, p = 0.004). Conclusions Moderate levels of color‐blind racial attitudes among dental hygiene educators were found, indicating a presence of cognitive aspects of stereotyping related to race. The demographic data collected adds to the existing evidence of a lack of diversity among dental hygiene faculty.