Abstract
Aim: The aim of this study was to examine undergraduate Lithuanian final year dental student perceptions about the dental profession in two Lithuanian universities.
Methods: This anonymous survey was distributed to all final year dental students from Vilnius University (VU) and Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LUHS). The survey was approved by VU and LUHS head of dental departments and there was no need for ethical approval. Students in their final year of their dental programmes were examined in year 2015. The structured survey included Likert scale questions that consisted of five response items and visual analogue scale questions allowing responses within a 0-100% range. The statistical analysis used SPSS 20.0 for Windows: summary tables were created, chi square test, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Spearman’s correlation analysis, t-test and Cronbach’s alpha test methods were used to statistically analyse the results.
Results: The overall response rate was 95% with a 100% (N=29) response rate from the VU and 93% rate from the LUHS (N=106/114). Most commonly students agreed that their profession gives freedom to express themselves and improve their skills (82.1%, N=111/135), the decision to become a dental professional makes them feel safe (73.1%, N=99/135) and they put maximum effort to their studies (71.6%, N=97/135), while fewer Lithuanian dental students agreed that treating people is the most satisfactory activity (61.6%, N=83/135). There were significant difference between two universities, the LUHS students agreed significantly more that the dental profession gives freedom to express themselves and improve skills (83.8%, N=113/135) than the VU students (75.5%, N=22/29).
Conclusions: Lithuanian dental students from these two universities report ed that they believed that their profession gives them freedom to express themselves and improve their skills and makes them feel safe with their choice of profession.
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