ATTITUDES OF DENTAL INTERNS TOWARDS LEARNING COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN ALEXANDRIA UNIVERSITY

Authors

1 Instructor at the Pediatric and Dental Public Health Department, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University

2 Professor of Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University.

3 Professor of Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Effective communication not only improves dentist-patient relationships, but also enhances the patient’s satisfaction towards the profession. Dental students are generally receptive to learning communication skills during their academic education and their appreciation for the value of these skills can be significantly improved with training. OBJECTIVES:The objective of this study was to compare the attitudes of dental interns towards learning communication skills at both Faculty of Dentistry Alexandria University (public) and Pharos University (private). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study using a s questionnaire was carried out among dental interns graduated from the Faculty of Dentistry of Alexandria University (AU) and Pharos University (PU), in 2014. A self-administered, twenty-four-items, Dental Communication Skills Attitude Scale (DCSAS) that contained both positive (PAS) and negative (NAS) attitude subscales was distributed. Participants’ demographic and education related variables were also recorded. Association of the positive and negative attitudes with these variables was determined using appropriate statistical tests as Pearson’s chi square test, Monte Carlo Exact test, Fisher’s Exact and one way ANOVA. RESULTS: A total of 240 dental interns from Alexandria University and 162 dental interns from Pharos University participated in the study, with a response rate of 70.59% and 82.65%, respectively. The mean PAS scores and NAS scores in both universities were almost the same, 52/65 and 31/55, respectively with no significant difference between them. These attitudes were significantly associated with certain background and education-related attributes as gender, age, parents education and previous communication skills training. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the differences in communication skills curriculum, dental interns of both AU and PU had an overall positive and neutral attitude towards communication skills learning with no statistical significant difference between them

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References

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