Background: This study aimed to adapt a measure of trust in physicians generally to trust in dentists and to assess the reliability and validity of the measure. Methods: Questionnaire data were collected from a simple random sample of 596 Australian adults. The 11-item General Trust in Physicians Scale (Hall et al., 2002) was modified to apply to dentists. Results: The Dentist Trust Scale (DTS) had good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.92) and exploratory factor analysis revealed a single factor solution. Lower DTS scores were associated with less trust in the dentist last visited, having previously changed dentists due to unhappiness with the care received, currently having dental pain, usual visiting frequency, dental avoidance, and with past experiences of discomfort, gagging, fainting, embarrassment and personal problems with the dentist. Conclusions: The majority of people appear to exhibit trust in dentists generally. The DTS shows promising reliability and validity evidence.
Research into work stress has attempted to identify job resources that can moderate the effects of job demands on strain. The recently developed triple-match principle (TMP) proposes that job demands, resources, and strain can be conceptualized as being composed of cognitive, emotional, and physical dimensions. When a psychological imbalance is induced by job demands, individuals activate corresponding resources to reduce the effects of the demands. A closer match occurs when the resources are processed in the same psychological domain as the demands. The further away from a match, the less likely an interactive effect will become. Put simply, the likelihood of finding an interactive effect between job demands and job resources is greatest when demands, resources, and strain are based on qualitatively similar dimensions (i.e. cognitive, emotional, and physical). For example, emotional support from colleagues is likely to buffer the effects of emotional demands on emotional exhaustion. The TMP was tested in a sample of 179 Australian police officers in a two-wave longitudinal study. The likelihood of finding an interactive effect was related to the degree of match between job demands, job resources, and strain with 33.3% of triple-match interactions significant, 22.2% when there was a double-match, and 0.0% when there was no match. These findings lend support to the TMP as a guiding framework, for research, to explore possible interactive effects in work stress research, and for practice, to inform interventions matching resources to occupational demands, to offset strain.
Dentist groups migrate to Australia for different reasons. The large proportion of the migrant dentist workforce sourced from lower middle income countries points towards deficiencies in oral health systems both for these countries and for Australia. The feminisation of the migrant dentist profile could in future affect dentist-practice activity patterns in Australia. Further research, especially on the settlement experiences of these dentists, can provide better insights into issues faced by these dentists, the nature of support that migrant dentists receive in Australia, the probable future patterns of work and potential impact on the dental workforce and dental service provision.
Objectives Dentist‐patient relationships (DPRs) are a key component in clinical encounters with potential benefits for oral health outcomes. This study aimed to investigate whether better DPR variables are associated with higher oral health‐related quality of life (OHRQoL). Methods A total of 12 245 adults aged 18 years or over were randomly sampled from South Australia in 2015‐2016. Data were collected from self‐complete questionnaires and analysed as a cross‐sectional design. The outcome variable was the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP‐14). Explanatory DPR variables included trust in dentists, satisfaction with dental care, and dental fear. Covariates comprising oral health behaviours, dental services, demographics, and socioeconomic status were included as potential confounding variables. Bivariate correlation analyses and multivariable linear regression were performed for the associations among explanatory, outcome variables and other covariates. Results Response data were analysed from 4220 participants (response rate = 41.9%). Unadjusted mean total scores of DPR variables and OHIP‐14 were associated with most of the study participants' characteristics (P < .05). Bivariate correlations among DPR variables and OHIP‐14 showed a diverse range of coefficients (|r| or |ρ|=0.22‐0.67). Multivariable regression analyses in both individual/clustered block entry and full model indicated that higher satisfaction and less dental fear (B = –0.039 and 0.316, respectively in the full model) were associated with lower OHIP‐14 after adjusting for possible confounders (P < .01). Conclusions This study found that favourable DPR variables, mainly greater satisfaction and less dental fear are positively associated with better OHRQoL. Further studies are warranted to investigate the causality and mediation/moderation of DPR variables on oral health outcomes.
BackgroundThe cost of dental care may be a barrier to regular dental attendance with the proportion of the Australian population avoiding or delaying care due to cost increasing since 1994. This paper explores the extent to which age, period and cohort factors have contributed to the variation in avoiding or delaying visiting a dentist because of cost.MethodsData were obtained from four national dental telephone interview surveys of Australian residents aged five years and over conducted in 1994, 1999, 2004 and 2010 (response rates 48% - 72%). The trend in the percentage of persons avoiding or delaying visiting a dentist because of cost was analysed by means of a standard cohort table and more formal age-period-cohort analyses using a nested models framework.ResultsThere was an overall increase in the proportion of people avoiding or delaying visiting a dentist indicating the presence of period effects. Financial barriers were also associated with age such that the likelihood of avoiding because of cost was highest for those in their mid-late twenties and lowest in both children and older adults. Cohort effects were also present although the pattern of effects differed between cohorts.ConclusionThe findings of this study suggest that, in addition to the increase in costs associated with dental care, policies targeting specific age groups and income levels may be contributing to the inequality in access to dental care.
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