Future expectations, career choices and related factors among dental students: a cross sectional study (original) (raw)

Motivational reasons for choosing dentistry as a professional career & factors affecting specialty choice among final year dental students

Future Dental Journal, 2018

The study aimed to evaluate factors affecting the choice of dentistry as a career as well as the choice of future specialty among senior dental students registered in British University of Egypt (BUE), during the academic year 2016/2017. A questionnaire form was downloaded from the students learning forum (e-learning), the students were then asked to fill up the form and hand it in during class. Results: Out of 200, 181 students responded to the survey, with a response rate of 90.5%. 67% of the students chose dentistry according to their own will, 20.1% due to family pressure, while only 12.8% were due to their high school grades. Fixed prosthodontics was the most favored specialty among the students who aimed for further postgraduate education (23.8%) while endodontics ranked as the second most popular specialty (22.7%) and Oral surgery came in the third rank (11%). There was a statistically significant difference between males and females in choosing fixed prosthodontics as well as oral pathology (p-value ≤ 0.001). Multiple regression analysis showed that "High school category" showed statistical significance in the prediction, p < 0.05 Conclusion: 67% of our respondents think they were given sufficient inspiration and guidance to decide on future plans, while, 39% of these students were guided by faculty staff members, which constituted the highest influence rather than recommendations from practicing dentists, family members or friends.

Brazilian Dental Students’ Intentions and Motivations Towards Their Professional Career

Journal of Dental Education, 2013

Investigating career motivations and intentions of dental students provides a better understanding of their role in society and contributes to the debate on dental education and practices. This study describes the profile, career choice motivations, and career intentions of Brazilian dental students and evaluates factors related to these choices. A cross-sectional study was carried out among dental students from three Brazilian public universities (N=915), with a response rate of 83.7 percent. Students (N=766) responded to a self-administered questionnaire about sociodemographic factors, reasons for choosing dentistry as a career, and future career intentions. Job conception was found to be the main reason for choosing dentistry as a profession. Most students intended to become specialists and work in both the public and private sectors simultaneously. Female students (OR 2.23, 95 percent CI=1.62-3.08), low-income students (OR 1.86, 95 percent CI=1.10-3.13), and students beginning their program (OR 1.87, 95 percent CI=1.22-2.85) were more likely to work in the public and private sectors simultaneously than other types of students. This study suggests that choice of career and career plans are influenced by factors related to the students' characteristics and their conception of the profession. The opportunity to combine private and public dental practice may be viewed as a way to achieve income and job security.

The Career Choice, Motivation and Future Expectations of Dental Students: A Mixed Method Analysis

2020

Background An insight into students’ motivation and choice into entering and remaining in dental education is essential. The understanding of how choices are made will help universities in the planning of admission policies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the career choice and motivation into dental education by undergraduate dental students at the Faculty of Dentistry, Kuwait University. Methods A mixed-method design was employed, evaluating both quantitative and qualitative data. One hundred seventy-three questionnaires were distributed to all registered dental students, with a response rate of 85%. Seven focus groups were facilitated, and related data recorded and transcribed. Results The mother’s influence was statistically significant in decision making. There was a statistically significant relationship between motivation to choose dentistry and personal decision. Qualitatively, major influencers were family and culture.Conclusions While students were confident in their...

Evaluation of The Factors Affecting the Choice of Profession of The Dental Students

Indonesian Journal of Dental Medicine

Background: Researches on motivation of students to choose dentistry as a profession has been conducted for many years. Students may choose to become dentists for reasons such as serving, being independent, working with their hands, gaining prestige, and financial security. Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the factors in the career preferences of dental students, their expectations and opinions in the education process. Methods: 1,007 participants who answered the web-based questionnaire were included in this study. Obtained data were analysed using SPSS version 23.0 (Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). The Independent t test was used for intergroup comparisons in the data were normally distributed. Variables in more than two groups were compared using the one-way ANOVA test. Statistical significance was accepted as p<0.05 in all analyses. Results: A total of 1007 dentistry students, 370 (36.7%) male and 637 (63.3%) female, with a mean age of 21.15 ± 1.96 participated in the su...

Possible Future Career Challenges and Associated Factors among Dental Students and Interns

International Journal of Dentistry

Background. Dental students face a variety of challenges as they enter the dental profession. The study aimed at assessing dental students’ opinions about their perceived future career challenges in the dental profession and the associated factors. Materials and Methods. This cross-sectional study of 637 students representing different public and private dental colleges was conducted in Saudi Arabia. The participants responded to a pretested questionnaire conducted online. Results. There were 59.7% (n = 380) of males and 40.3% (n = 257) of females, and the mean age of the students was 21.80 (±2.14) years. The majority of participants thought that they will have difficulties in establishing their private clinic (63.9%) and finding a government job (>60%). Senior students were more likely to perceive getting a government job (OR = 1.79, P=0.02), securing an admission into specialty program (OR = 2.75, P=0.001), and establishing a private dental clinic (OR = 2.51, P=0.001) as future...

Motivating Factors for Choosing Dentistry and Plan After Graduation

Journal of Chitwan Medical College

Background: The knowledge of current motivation to choose dentistry and future plan of dental graduates is critical to health care systems and may result in major change for policies in dental education. This study aimed to assess the motivational factors that influenced students to choose dentistry as a profession and their future plan after graduation. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the 120 students who have cleared the final Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) examination and were undergoing their mandatory internship program. The data was collected between January 2020 to April 2020. Data analysis was done using Statistical Prod­uct and Service Solution (SPSS) version 20 with descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The leading professional reason was the flexible working hour, 54.8% (n=57). Job stability, 50% (n=52), the desire to help people, 49% (n=51) and a desire to be associated with a health profession, 69.2% (n=72) were the primary reasons on e...

Factors Motivating Career Choices for Dental Students

Journal of Research in Medical Education & Ethics, 2014

The aim of this study was to investigate the reasons for choosing dentistry as a career by Saudi dental students in Jeddah. Methods: A self-completion questionnaire was administered to 390 students. The questionnaire consisted of questions related to 'students' socio-demographic status and factors influencing their career choice. Students rated their responses on a 5-point-Likert scale in addition to multiple choice questions. Non-parametric tests, factor analysis and multiple regressions were performed. Results: Grades in secondary school influenced 'students' career decision. Factor analysis revealed six factors behind career decision. "Personal" "factor had more influence on female students and those with non-working mothers, "Economy" "influenced male 'students' decision. Student's gender and having non-working mother were strongly related to 'student's decision. Dental career was the first choice for female students and those who decided dental career during secondary school. Conclusions: Grades have a great role in the career decision of Saudi dental students. Regular working hours, helping others, self-employed, self-influence, serve own gender are reasons behind female 'students' decision while reasons of male students are income, prestige and easy to find job. Student's gender and having a non-working mother are strongly related to students' decision to choose dentistry as a career.

Motivation to Follow a Career in Dentistry of Students in Three South-East European Countries

Acta Stomatologica Croatica

Objective: To investigate and compare the factors that motivated students to study dentistry in countries with similar background (Albania, Croatia and the Republic of Northern Macedonia) and to assess whether or not their motivation changed during time. Material and methods: In 2014/2015, cross-sectional studies were conducted in state funded dental schools in Tirana (Albania), Zagreb (Croatia) and Skopje (North Macedonia) to assess student views on their career motivation. All dental students from the first, third and final years of study were invited to participate. The participation was voluntary and anonymous. A five-item questionnaire was translated into languages of the participating countries. Ethics approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of the University of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Skopje. The Chi square test was used to test if there were statistically significant differences in answers between students in 3 countries, furthermore between years of the study. Results: The total number of respondents was 739 (319 in Tirana, 211 in Zagreb and 208 in Skopje) The differences in the answers between the first-year students from all three countries were statistically significant (χ 2 =82.65; p<.01). The most striking answer was to the question on parents' pressure to study dentistry, which was far more frequent in Tirana (up to 27.7%). A "positive image" was the most frequent response from students from Zagreb (up to 79.7%), but it declined from the first to the final year in Skopje. There were also significant differences between the schools within the 3 rd and final years of study. Conclusions: A positive image of dental profession was the main reason for students studying dentistry at all three schools; as many as 97% of the students of the final year in Croatia, a member of the European Union (EU). In the two non-EU countries (Albania, North Macedonia) it seemed that dental profession does not have such good status and student expectations are not being fulfilled, especially in Skopje (up to 33.9% willing to change their vocation and up to 64.5% lost their motivation to study) One of the strategies to improve the situation could be to include more clinical practice and to better organize the study.

2018 Career perspectives of senior dental students from different backgrounds at a single Middle Eastern institution

BMC Medical Education, 2018

Background: Differences between dental students in terms of social, economic and cultural backgrounds are likely to impact their professional career plans. The aim of this study was to explore the professional career plans among final year dental students from different backgrounds at a single Middle Eastern institution (Jordan university of Science and Technology-JUST). Methods: Fifth year dental students at JUST were invited to fill out a paper based self-administered questionnaire. Data was collected on students`demographics, their future career plans and the impact of social and economic changes on such plans, their interest in postgraduate studies and the specialty of choice in addition to the influence of a group of factors on that choice. Data was also collected on the value of non-academic workshops, guidance regarding career plans, participants`preferred pattern of work (full-time versus part-time) and retirement plans. Students were categorized according to their nationalities. Pearson's chi squared test, one way ANOVA and post hoc tests were used to measure statistical significance between measured variables and backgrounds of participants. The level of significance was set at P ≤ 0.05. Results: A total of 227 students completed the survey (response rate = 84%). 47% of the participants were Jordanians, 27% were Malaysians, 11% were from Gulf States (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar), 10% were from conflict zones in the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, Palestine and Yemen) and 5% comprised students from other nationalities. Significant differences were found between students from different backgrounds in their funding sources (Chi square = 132, P < 0.01), practice plans (Chi square = 43, P < 0.01), the impact of social and economic changes on their career choices (Chi square = 34, P < 0.01), planned work pattern within the first 10 years post-graduation (chi square = 18, P < 0.05) and 10-20 years after graduation (69%, Chi square = 22, P < 0.01) and retirement plans (Chi square = 25, P < 0.05). Students from different nationalities agreed on most factors affecting their choice of a specialty, except for the reputation of the specialty (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Several differences in career plans were found between dental students from variable backgrounds studying a single institution. Many of these disparities could reflect variations in socioeconomic backgrounds.