Quality of Life Among Dental Students: A Survey Study

Abstract

Quality of life is a complex construct that affects the overall life satisfaction, emotional well‐being, and functioning of individuals. The aim of our study was to assess the quality of life of dental students at one U.S. dental school, using the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL)‐BREF, a multi‐dimensional, cross‐cultural, validated, and reliable survey instrument. Of the 1,437 students invited to participate, 401 students responded, but 17 were excluded because of missing data. The final sample consisted of 384 students for an overall response rate of 27%: response rates by year were first year 32.6%, second year 16.9%, third year 26.6%, and fourth year 24.0%. The results showed that the responding students rated their overall quality of life as good. The Physical Health domain had the highest mean score, while the Psychological domain had the lowest. Females reported higher quality of life than males in the Social Relationships domain. Single students were found to have a lower perceived quality of life than married students. Older students were found to have lower perceived quality of life in the Physical Health and Environment domains. Physical Health domain scores were significantly higher for fourth‐year than first‐year respondents, while Psychological domain scores were significantly lower for third‐year than first‐year respondents. Further research is needed to explore the effect of dental school on the quality of life of dental students. Targeted programs to impact students’ quality of life at various points in the curriculum may be beneficial.

Psychometric Properties of the World Health Organization’s Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) Questionnaire in Medical Students

“…Compared to that, internal consistencies of the WHOQOL-BREF scale were somewhat low in a sample of dental students in Saudi Arabia ("Psychological Health" domain showed unsatisfactory reliability having Cronbach's Alpha of 0.36) [24], while reliability was low in the social domain in preclinical medical students in Iran (Cronbach's alpha was 0.62 for "Social Relationships" domain) [25] and among Pakistani Urdu-speaking population aged 18 years and above (Cronbach's alpha was 0.56 for "Social Relationships" domain) [13]. However, a study by Andre and coauthors [26] showed that reliability and structure validity of WHOQOL-BREF among students at one U.S. dental school were consistent with results in western students' samples. Also, in the assessment of the quality of life among Chinese urologists [27], the overall Cronbach's α coefficient of the instrument was 0.825, indicating the questionnaire was of good quality.…”

Health-related quality of life of university students from Wrocław

“…Strózik (2009), who surveyed students from twelve Poznań universities, noticed a higher percentage of respondents who rated their quality of life as high in the group of women, while the percentage of those who assessed their quality of life as average was similar in both gender groups. Andre, Pierre and McAndrew (2017) reported a higher quality of life related to women's health than to men's in their study, but only in the social domain. However, Turosz (2011) and Cruz et al (2018) reported no significant gender differences in their quality of life assessments.…”

“…Thirdly and finally, Turosz considered only students of a sports university, and not as in the present survey, students of various universities. Average, health-related quality of life was also self--assessed by American dental students interviewed by Andre, Pierre and McAndrew (2017). Nursing students from nine countries surveyed by Cruz et al (2018) reported similar values of health-related quality of life indicators in the particular domains to those interviewed in Wrocław.…”

“…The environmental domain was rated the highest and the social domain the lowest by medical students from Chile (Irribarr et al, 2018), dental students from Saudi Arabia (Al-Shibani and Al-Kattan, 2019), and students of various majors from Kuwait (Al-Fayez and Ohaeri, 2011). Andre, Pierre and McAndrew (2017) and Cruz et al (2018), on the other hand, reported the results of studies in which the highest mean values of quality of life indicators were found in the physical domain and the lowest in the social or psychological domains.…”

Building a Humanistic Culture in Dental Education

“…Also in this issue, Andre et al used the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL)-BREF survey to assess quality of life along multiple dimensions and constructs for students. 6 This novel approach to measuring culture is allowing our colleagues at New York University to focus on how they may better support their learners.…”