The Relationship between the Sense of Coherence of Dental Hygiene Students in Their Graduation Year and Their View of the Profession and Attitude to Work: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Japan

Abstract

Objective: The need to make sense of coherence in placement support for student dental hygienists has been shown. On this basis, this study investigated the relationship between the sense of coherence of student dental hygienists and their view of the profession and attitude to work in order to clarify how they perceive their prospects for employment. Methods: The subjects were graduation-year students at all of the dental hygienist training institutions in Japan, and anonymous, self-administered questionnaires were sent to the institutions by post in 2019. The results were analyzed by χ2 tests, as well as one-way analysis of variance and multiple comparisons using Tukey’s test, with the level of significance set at 5%. Results: Of 6270 questionnaires that were returned, 6264 were analyzed. The sense of coherence (SOC) component senses were manageability (F(26,221) = 5306.06, p < 0.01), meaningfulness (F(26,222) = 4373.48, p < 0.01), and comprehensibility (F(26,216) = 3986.12, p < 0.01), with meaningfulness scoring significantly higher than the other two (p < 0.01). Analysis with SOC scores divided into the low, medium, and high groups showed a relationship between the SOC of student dental hygienists and their view of the profession and attitude to work (p < 0.01), such that higher SOC scores were associated with a better view of the profession and a better attitude to work (F(26,225) = 282.18, p < 0.01). Conclusions: The results suggest that education that increases SOC in dental hygienist training programs may positively affect future prospects for student dental hygienists.

Recommendations on Teaching Methods Tailored to the Characteristics of Individual Nurses: The Relationship between Dislike of Preoperative Visits and Sense of Coherence

“…There are also multiple reports on the potential effectiveness of using SOC in educational settings. The results show that students with higher SOC scores are more motivated to learn [24] and have a better view of their work [25]. The results also show that professional involvement can improve SOC scores [26].…”

Perceived stress and career planning awareness of Japanese and Taiwanese undergraduate dental hygiene students

“… 25 Moreover, improving dental hygiene students’ sense of coherence, which is related to their view of the profession, was associated with an increase in the number of years they wanted to work as DHs and in their job satisfaction. 26 …”

Self-Care and Sense of Coherence: A Salutogenic Model for Health and Care in Nursing Education

“…In addition, we have also found that middle-aged women performing higher academic results develop better self-care levels, and these students also obtained more powerful scores in their SOC, as the findings of the major systematic review on the SOC in nurses suggest [ 74 ]. More investigations report that those students showing strong SOC values are more resistant to stress, keep healthier behaviours, show higher professional engagement, and, furthermore, theoretical assumptions determine that they do better academically [ 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 ].…”