Development of a battery of tests to measure attitudes and intended behaviours of dental students towards people with disability or those in marginalised groups

Abstract

Introduction Recommended curricula in Special Care Dentistry (SCD) outline learning objectives that include the domain of attitudes and behaviours, but these are notoriously difficult to measure. The aims of this study were (i) to develop a test battery comprising adapted and new scales to evaluate values, attitudes and intentions of dental students towards people with disability and people in marginalised groups and (ii) to determine reliability (interitem consistency) and validity of the scales within the test battery. Materials and Methods A literature search identified pre‐existing measures and models for the assessment of attitudes in healthcare students. Adaptation of three pre‐existing scales was undertaken, and a new scale was developed based upon the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) using an elicitation survey. These scales underwent a process of content validation. The three adapted scales and the TPB scale were piloted by 130 students at 5 different professional stages, from 4 different countries. Results The scales were adjusted to ensure good internal reliability, variance, distribution, and face and content validity. In addition, the different scales showed good divergent validity. Discussion These results are positive, and the scales now need to be validated in the field. Conclusions It is hoped that these tools will be useful to educators in SCD to evaluate the impact of teaching and clinical exposure on their students.

Impact of the special care dentistry education on Malaysian students’ attitudes, self‐efficacy and intention to treat people with learning disability

“…Evaluation of the SCD curriculum and teaching methods in changing students' attitudes may include the use of validated instruments. 27 This study particularly investigated the attitude, self-efficacy and intention to treat PWLD amongst students of two dental schools in Malaysia that offer a specific and structured undergraduate curriculum in SCD.…”

Analysis of moral reasoning in dentistry students through case‐based learning (CBL)

“…Consequently, a higher score on the test may not be accompanied by a higher score in the set of cases analyzed. It can be deduced that the accumulation of moral skills did not keep a strong correlation with theoretical knowledge 25 . In fact, a weak correlation such as the one observed could be interpreted as a manifestation of a low or limited coherence between the display of ethical competencies and the acquisition of theoretical knowledge about ethics, a divergence that academic programs try to address, although with some difficulty 10,28 .…”

“…It is further revealing that the element of fear of punishment (stage 1) or self-interest (stage 2) is not predominant in any of the cases, something that could be interpreted as an indication of increasing maturity in the undergraduates. 25 The Spearman correlation of the five cases -representative of the five predominant principles -shows a moderate positive correlation (>0.35) between the answers referring to autonomy (case 5), and beneficence (case 4), as well as between truthfulness (case 2) and justice (case 3), something which suggests a certain similarity in the approach to the cases and, obviously, the way of resolving them. Indeed, the description of cases 4 and 5 seems to coincide in affecting the oral integrity of the person, the care, and its violation, although on occasions, this is in conflict with the autonomy of the patient, who may accept, or even desire, a harmful treatment for other non-ethical reasons.…”

“…The exception seems to be case 3 (justice), which is mostly resolved in stage 5, based on recognized universal rights, possibly because of the surprising nature of the situation. It is further revealing that the element of fear of punishment (stage 1) or self‐interest (stage 2) is not predominant in any of the cases, something that could be interpreted as an indication of increasing maturity in the undergraduates 25 …”

“…It can be deduced that the accumulation of moral skills did not keep a strong correlation with theoretical knowledge. 25 In fact, a weak correlation such as the one observed could be interpreted as a manifestation of a low or limited coherence between the display of ethical competencies and the acquisition of theoretical knowledge about ethics, a divergence that academic programs try to address, although with some difficulty. 10,28 This fact suggests the need to periodically correct the teaching programs of the subject, so that theory and praxis converge in their results.…”