The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare a group of Indian dental students' attitudes toward HIV-positive status, substance misuse, intellectual disability, acute mental illness, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) orientation. Two hundred and twelve students at various stages in the dental curriculum anonymously completed the Medical Condition Regard Scale (MCRS) for these conditions. Friedman and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used, respectively, to analyze the intrastage and interstage differences in MCRS scores. The results revealed that the regard of dental students was considerably positive for all the conditions except LGBT, for which it was just borderline positive. Intellectual disability received the highest regard among all the conditions and LGBT the least. An intermediary and comparable regard was noted for acute mental illness and HIV-positive status followed by substance misuse. While the regard for LGBT remained consistent throughout the curriculum, those for other conditions showed a marginal decrease at the completion of the clinical training. Active curricular reforms are required to ensure a more inclusive and nondiscriminatory dental care environment for patients from such often-stigmatized populations, especially those with LGBT orientation and substance misuse.

Trait procrastination is believed to be highly prevalent among college students and detrimental to their educational performance. As the scenario among dental students is virtually unknown, this study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of trait procrastination among dental students and to analyze its inluence on their academic performance. A total of 174 fourthyear dental students from three dental colleges in India voluntarily completed the Lay's Procrastination Scale-student version (LPS). The mean percentage marks scored in the subsequent inal university examinations were used as a measure of academic performance. The descriptive statistics were computed to evaluate the prevalence of signiicant procrastination (LPS score ≥60). Mann-Whitney U test and multiple linear regressions were used to assess the inluence of age and gender on procrastination severity, and the latter was again used to analyze the association between procrastination severity and academic performance. The results indicated that 27 percent (n=47) of the students exhibited a signiicant extent of trait procrastination; neither age nor gender affected its severity (p<0.05). Procrastination had a signiicant and negative impact on the academic performance of the student (beta=-0.150, p=0.039). These indings highlight the need for active measures to reduce the causes and consequences of procrastination in dental education.

The aim of our study was to assess the attitudes of postgraduate orthodontic students in India towards patient-centered care. Two hundred and two students from eighteen dental schools across India completed the modiied Patient-Practitioner Orientation Scale (PPOS), a self-administered eighteen-item questionnaire that evaluates the practice orientation of the students in terms of doctor versus patient-centeredness. The results revealed that the attitudes of the orthodontic postgraduate students in India were generally more doctor-centered (mean PPOS score of 3.38). As compared to their male counterparts, the female students were more considerate of the role of psychosocial factors in health and the importance of warm doctor-patient relationships (mean caring subscale score of 3.8 vs. 3.54, p<0.05). The third-year students were relatively more patient-centered than their irstyear colleagues (mean PPOS score of 3.56 vs. 3.27, p<0.05) and were more willing to share power and information with their patients (mean sharing score of 3.24 vs. 2.92, p<0.01). In general, the students became more patient-centered as they progressed through their postgraduate course. The results of the study clearly imply the need for more active measures in order to develop a more patient-centered orthodontic health care system in India.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the mental health of postgraduate orthodontic students in India by assessing the extent of three common negative affective states: depression, anxiety, and stress. Three hundred and thirty postgraduate students from thirty-two dental colleges across India anonymously completed the short version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS21). The statistical analysis included summary statistics, nonparametric tests for intergroup comparisons, and logistic regressions to evaluate the inluence of age, gender, year of study, and marital status on these mental states. In comparison to the general population, the students experienced mildly elevated levels of depression and anxiety (11±5.1 and 8.2±4.1, respectively) and a moderately elevated level of psychological stress (22±5.2). A moderate or higher level of coexisting symptoms of all three affective states was seen in 15.8 percent of the students. Female students reported a higher level of depression than males and were two and half times more likely to experience depression to a moderate or higher level. First-year students exhibited lower levels in all three states than those in the second and third years and had lower odds than third-year students of developing a moderate or higher level of any of the three affective states. Marriage had a signiicant buffering potential against all these states. The results clearly indicate a suboptimal level of mental health in these postgraduate students of the specialty and the need to improve their mental resilience and the academic climate.

Although the health beneits of humor and the potential advantages of having a good Sense of Humor (SoH) have been long recognized, they have not been investigated in dental students. The aim of this study was to assess the extent and demographic correlates of SoH in dental students and its association with their self-reported level of psychological disturbances. Six hundred and ive students (age 20.3±1.83 years, 250 males, 355 females) from two dental schools in India anonymously completed the Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale (MSHS) and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21. Independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze the intergroup differences based on gender and year of study, respectively. The association between SoH and each of the three negative affective states was evaluated with multiple linear regressions. The mean MSHS score of the sample was 59.65±11.77. Male students showed a marginally higher SoH than females (60.78 vs. 58.86, p<0.05). The level of SoH steadily improved along the course duration, with statistically signiicant increases in the third and ifth years of study. SoH was negatively associated with all three negative affective states and explained nearly 3 to 5 percent of their variance. These results warrant further inquiry on the correlates of SoH in dental students, the psychosocial roles of humor, and their application in improving the psychological climate in dental schools.