Dental Students’ Perceptions of and Attitudes About Poverty: A Canadian Participatory Case Study

Abstract

This qualitative case study was conducted in a Canadian dental school using a participatory approach and was based on Paulo Freire's theoretical concept of conscientização, a form of critical consciousness that involves awareness of social reality and fosters action towards social justice. The aim of the study was to understand dental students' perceptions of and attitudes about poverty and dental care provided to people living in poverty. It also examined how these perceptions shape students' plans for their professional careers, as well as their opinions on educational strategies to prepare them to work with poor patients. The sources of data generation were semistructured interviews, participant observations, and document analysis. A deductive-inductive thematic strategy was used to analyze the data. Out of a class of thirty-ive senior dental students, the authors interviewed a convenience sample of twelve: ive male and seven female. The indings suggest that the students had incipient conscientização about poverty-related themes. They perceived poverty as a distant issue and as the responsibility of the government or of the poor individuals themselves. The students did not have plans to work with patients living in poverty in the future and struggled to envision ways to address these patients' needs other than volunteer work. This research supports the need for academic dental institutions to adopt strategies to increase students' critical consciousness about oral health inequities. Reducing oral health inequities is a matter of social justice, and dental care providers are key actors in this endeavor.Dr. Reis is a Ph.D. student,

A global probe into dental student perceptions about philanthropy, global dentistry and international student exchanges

“…Course work in cultural competency creates an awareness of the relationship between socio‐economic disparities that impact access to dental care and initiates cultural and self‐awareness, but it does not create a willingness to care for vulnerable populations. Students often view the needs of vulnerable populations, particularly those living in poverty, as being distant from themselves. While education can shape student perceptions regarding the needs of vulnerable populations, community outreach programmes provide experiential reinforcement of didactic coursework.…”

Assessing Dental Students’ Readiness to Treat Populations That Are Underserved: A Scoping Review

“…The remaining study in this area was qualitative. It involved observation and interviews with fourth‐year students and an analysis of their reflections written prior to participating in a community project with populations that were low income 44 . Through the lens of a charity versus social justice approach to care, students’ perceptions of poverty, social responsibility, and the sufficiency of the curriculum were explored.…”

Enhancing Dental Students’ Understanding of Poverty Through Simulation

“…Additional research is planned with students after their DISC rotations to determine if the poverty simulation helped them better understand the challenges faced by their actual low‐income patients during their rotations. It may also be useful to conduct in‐depth interviews with a sample of our students in order to better understand their attitudes about poverty, as done in Reis et al's participatory case study 25 …”