Self‐Perceived Public Health Competency Among Recent Dental Graduates

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the level of self-perceived competency in dental public health in recent graduates from the Faculty of Stomatology of the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia. One hundred and nineteen graduates (28.6 percent males and 71.4 percent females) were asked to rate their self-perception of proficiency on each of the twenty-one dental public health functions identified in a dental practice competency matrix. Students assessed their competence in these dental public health functions using a three-point ordinal scale with 0 indicating "not at all competent," 1 indicating "competent," and 2 indicating "very competent." Males scored themselves higher than females for items concerning "design, develop, and evaluate community restorative interventions," "apply basic maintenance to dental equipment and instruments," and "participate in an epidemiological surveillance system." However, there were no significant differences for any item according to age. A confirmatory factorial analysis provided two factors with Eigenvalues greater than one (13.09 and 1.53, respectively), which explained 62.3 percent and 7.3 percent of the variance in the graduates' responses respectively. However, the fact that all twenty-one dental public health functions loaded higher than 0.55 on the first factor led to the conclusion that the dental public health competency is perceived by students to be a one-dimensional construct. Graduates perceived themselves as very competent for solving dental health needs at the community level. This study also provided further evidence in support of the rationale for the competencybased dental curriculum of the Faculty of Stomatology of the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia.

Dental education in Peru

“…degree is mandatory for practicing Table 1 Dental schools in Peru Table 2 Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia dental curriculum dentistry in Peru. The mean age of dental school graduates at the UPCH is 23.1 years (8).…”

The Effect of Using Different Competence Frameworks to Audit the Content of a Masters Program in Public Health

“…The Institute of Medicine and the American Public Health Association ( 1 ) recommended the use of competence frameworks to inform the content of public health teaching programs. This reflected concerns about variation in the content of public health professional training programs ( 2 ), and a growing trend to competence based education in other health professions ( 3 – 5 ). This has resulted in an increase in the number and scope of competence frameworks for public health training and professional practice ( 1 , 6 ), along with different interpretations of such terms ( 7 ).…”

A qualitative study on the administration and management competencies in a Brazilian dental school

“…Nonetheless, the situation of those who venture in the public sector does not seem to be different. Bernabe et. al.…”

“…al. (2006) 16 reported that recently graduated dentists considered themselves to have been insufficiently trained during their formal education for the various functions related to the practice of management in public dental care.…”