Study motives, career choices and interest in paediatric dentistry among final year dental students in Nigeria

Abstract

BackgroundStudents’ motives for studying Dentistry have been a subject of interest for years because of the potential for understanding the psychological makeup and subsequent job satisfaction for the dentist. It is also useful in identifying expectations of the profession. This study therefore tried to identify study motives and career preferences of dental students especially with respect to the practice of paediatric dentistry.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire. The final year students in six dental schools in Nigeria were required to fill the questionnaire. Students were asked to rank their motives and career preferences on a Likert like scale with points ranging from 0–5 where 0 represented a factor that had no influence on their decision and 5 represented a very influential factor. The underlying dimensions for study motives, career preference, impression about and motive for interest in the practice of paediatric dentistry were identified using factor analysis.ResultsOne hundred and seventy nine of 223 students (80.3%) participated in this study. Motives for the practice of dentistry included characteristics of the profession, altruism and intellectual challenges, existence of artistic theme in dentistry and parent’s recommendation. Overall, 67.1% of respondents indicated interest in postgraduate studies and 50.8% were interested in paediatric dentistry practice. The main motives for showing interest in the practice of paediatric dentistry were ‘personal interest, professional interest and interest of significant others in children’, and ‘family influence’. Significantly more males than females were interested in the practice of paediatric dentistry though the motives for interest in the practice of paediatric dentistry did not differ significantly by sex or age.ConclusionThe non-significant sex difference in the motives for interest in the practice of paediatric dentistry is a possible reflection of changes in strong cultural themes in the motives for career choices in Nigeria.

Dental and Dental Hygiene Students’ Career Choice Motivations in 2009–17: A Mixed Methods Approach

“…Our data showed that 37% of the dental students and 30% of the dental hygiene students had a family member in dentistry or in dental hygiene; however, students with such family members did not differ overall in their career choice motivations from students without such family backgrounds. In the past, studies clearly showed that students chose their career because they were inspired by others in choosing dentistry [14][15][16]18,20,[29][30][31][32][33] or dental hygiene. [22][23][24][25][26][27] However, being inspired by others might differ from being inspired by a close family member in the profession.…”

“…In the past, studies clearly showed that students chose their career because they were inspired by others in choosing dentistry [14][15][16]18,20,[29][30][31][32][33] or dental hygiene. In the past, studies clearly showed that students chose their career because they were inspired by others in choosing dentistry [14][15][16]18,20,[29][30][31][32][33] or dental hygiene.…”

“…The first factor is whether these students had a family member in dentistry or in dental hygiene. While many studies have explored whether dental students were inspired by others to choose dentistry as a career, [14][15][16]18,20,[29][30][31][32][33] or whether dental hygiene students were inspired by others to choose dental hygiene as their career, [22][23][24][25][26][27] no research so far had explored whether having a family member in dentistry or dental hygiene would play a role for the students' decision making process. A second additional factor is whether having a spouse or partner affects dental and dental hygiene students' career choices.…”

Factors influencing study of physiotherapy and preferred choice of specialisation among final year physiotherapy students in Nigeria

“…Participants for this study were consenting final year physiotherapy students in all physiotherapy training institutions in the South Western region of Nigeria namely; (13). Domains relevant to the present study were identified in the original questionnaire and used for developing the questionnaire for this study.…”

Factors promoting undergraduate students to choose orthodontics as future carrier in a dental college in Udaipur city, Rajasthan

“…The factors influencing the choice of a dental profession are very important in terms of identifying the expectations of the profession. 1 Several studies have reported that the majority of the undergraduate dental students prefer to continue their education toward a specialty degree. [2][3][4] This has important implications for the dental workforce planning agenda in any country.…”