Developing Dental Students’ Awareness of Health Care Disparities and Desire to Serve Vulnerable Populations Through Service‐Learning

Background A recent shift in educational components within healthcare has pushed dentistry toward a greater understanding of the role of social components on oral health. There has also been an increased awareness of inappropriate conduct among dental students. Study design and methods A scoping review was conducted to determine if, how, and when social‐justice‐oriented education has been incorporated into dental curricula worldwide. A systematic and reiterative search of articles was performed on February 22, 2018, and combined quantitative and qualitative synthesis of data. An updated search was done on September 26, 2019. Primary results Seventy‐three studies were evaluated: 46 quantitative (63%), 24 qualitative (33%), 3 multimethods (4%). The majority used self‐reported surveys and questionnaires (66%), while the remaining used interviews (9.5%), student reflections (16%) and focus groups (5.5%). Studies included dental students only (78%); dental students with dental hygiene students (5.5%) or faculty/staff (4.1%); dental students in year 1 (17%), year 2 (1.6%), year 3 (1.6%), year 4 (14.2%); first‐ and second‐year students (3%); third‐ and fourth‐year students (1.6%); all years of study (20%); and academic year not specified (41%). The study areas included “learning in dental school,” “experiencing dental school,” “focusing on cultural competency,” and “addressing dental ethics and social responsibility.” Principal conclusions Three major research gaps were identified: no discussion of a social contract between dentists and society, no explicit social justice‐oriented topics within undergraduate dental curricula, and no standardized tool to measure these topics. Further research is necessary to understand how such topics can be included in dental curricula to form socially competent dentists.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 74%

A scoping review on social justice education in current undergraduate dental curricula

Noushi

Enriquez

Esfandiari

2020

“…A previous study found value in integrating service‐learning into dental education, developing dental students’ cultural competence, and raising their willingness to treat underserved populations 13 . That study pointed to the urgent need to integrate some form of service‐learning into dental faculty development programs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Dental Student, Resident, and Faculty Attitudes Toward Treating Medicaid Patients

Behar‐Horenstein

Feng

2017

Self Cite

Failure to receive proper oral health care including both prevention and maintenance is influenced by myriad and complex social, economic, and dental factors, including access to care. Reducing oral health disparities requires changes in the preparation of future dentists as well as measuring and influencing the attitudes and knowledge of practicing dentists. The aim of this study was to determine the likelihood that future dentists (students and residents) and faculty members at one U.S. dental school would treat Medicaid participants. Attitudes were measured using the Deamonte Driver scenario survey, which assesses factors affecting dentists' participation in Medicaid. In October 2012, all 113 full-time faculty members were invited to participate, and 60 completed the survey, for a response rate of 53.1%. In January and February 2013, all 18 residents in the dental clinics and university hospital were invited to participate, and 16 completed the survey, for a response rate of 88.9%. From 2013 to 2015, all 267 students in three classes were invited to participate: first-year students in the Classes of 2017 and 2018 and fourth-year students in the Class of 2015. A total of 255 students completed the survey, for an overall student response rate of 95.5%. The results showed that the students were more likely to participate in caring for Medicaid patients than the faculty and residents. The white and male students had stronger negative stereotypes about Medicaid patients than the females and underrepresented minority students, while residents had stronger negative stereotypes about Medicaid patients than the students and faculty. Overall, the cultural competency skills, beliefs, and attitudes of these faculty members and residents were less developed than those of their students, signaling a need for broad educational and faculty development programs to fully prepare the future dental workforce to care for these patients.

“…Many kinds of learning tools, approaches, and course designs were assessed. The most frequently assessed learning tool was reflection, whether used alone or with other modalities 6 , 25 – 32 . Reflection is a tool that helps students to think critically about course content and their experiences in the community 33 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Dental Students’ Readiness to Treat Populations That Are Underserved: A Scoping Review

Furlini

Noushi

Castonguay

et al. 2018

In North America, all dental schools have adopted some form of community-based dental education (CBDE) or service-learning, but little is known about the areas being researched and reported in published studies. The aim of this study was to conduct a scoping review to determine what areas of research had been conducted to determine the effects of CBDE on dental students' readiness to treat populations that are underserved. A systematic search of articles published in English or French since 2000 was performed on July 29, 2015, and combined quantitative and qualitative synthesis of data was conducted. Of the 32 studies evaluated, 23 (72%) were quantitative, seven (22%) were qualitative, and two were multi-method. The majority (66%) used self-report methods, most frequently surveys. Participants in 50% of the studies were fourth-year dental students; the others assessed third- and fourth-year (13%), first- and second-year (6%), and first-year (13%) students. Dentists were the participants in three studies (9%), with dentists and students in one study (3%). Either the types of populations receiving care were unspecified or four or more groups were pooled together in 25 studies (78%), while two focused on children, one on rural populations, one on elderly populations, two on persons with special health care needs, and one on low-income populations. The study areas were wide-ranging, but generally fell into three categories: student performance (37.5%), teaching approaches and evaluation methods (37.5%), and perceptions of CBDE (25%). This review identified many research gaps for determining whether students are prepared to treat populations that are underserved. The disparate nature of CBDE research demonstrates a compelling argument for determining elements that define student readiness to care for patients who are underserved and for research that includes the voices of patients, curriculum development, and more comprehensive and rigorous evaluation methodologies.