The Dental Values Scale: Development and Validation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to produce a valid scale for use in measuring the values of dental students and practitioners-the lack of which has impeded research on professionalism in dentistry. Following standard scale development procedures, we had focus groups of dental practitioners (N=23) develop a ninety-nine-item pool of value terms related to dentistry. Next, Canadian dentists (N=449) rated the relevance of each item through an online survey. They also rated the values in a generic values measure, Schwartz's Values Scale. Exploratory and conirmatory factor analyses identiied twenty-ive items representing ive values: Altruism, Personal Satisfaction, Conscientiousness, Quality of Life, and Professional Status. These values correlate with related dimensions from Schwartz's measure; they also correspond to the values in the American Dental Education Association's statement on professionalism. We then administered the new Dental Values Scale to dental students (N=96) to determine the relationship between practitioner and student values. First-year students were higher in Conscientiousness, Altruism, and Personal Satisfaction than practitioners, but these values decreased over time to those held by the dentists. We discuss the implication of these results and the potential value of the new scale for dental education.

Values related to professionalism in dental education at the University of Chile: Student and faculty perceptions

“…The second lowest rated dimension was Personal Satisfaction, with student ratings significantly lower than those of faculty. These results contrast with that reported by Langille et al, a study in which students reported significantly higher personal satisfaction than faculty. This difference could be explained by the stress and emotional exhaustion that dental students undergo during training, where deadlines must be met, participation in a number of clinical modules in different sub‐disciplines is required, and failure means retaking courses, thus delaying the entire programme and graduation .…”

“…In the dimension Consciousness, encompassing professional values of acting ethically and honestly, it was interesting to find that although it was the second highest rated dimension, indicating its value of importance, students rated this dimension significantly lower than faculty. This is in line with that previously reported by Langille et al and might be explained, in part, by the dishonest actions that students have admitted to taking to prevent programme failure . Moreover, it is probable that the high enrolment costs and debt associated with financing higher education in Chile further promote unethical behaviour.…”

“…The survey developed by Langille et al, which created a values scale associated with professional conduct at a dental school in Canada, was culturally adapted and validated for use in the present study. Indeed, it has been demonstrated that preferences regarding professional values are strongly defined by social and cultural factors that are characteristic in a specific population .…”

“…Each survey item was grouped according to the following five dimensions: Altruism, Personal Satisfaction, Quality of Life, Consciousness and Professional Status. Langille et al constructed the operational definitions and associated values of these dimensions based on definitions provided by the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) and on the ethical principles and professional codes of conduct of the American Dental Association (ADA) . Following this, a simple exploratory factor analysis and a principal components analysis were performed by dimension for each item using the STATA 12 software (StataCorp, College Station, TX, USA).…”

“…It has been described that in order to properly integrate the values of professionalism during professional training, it is relevant, as a first step, to identify what the core values important to encourage for the institution are, being surveys useful tools that could help in this first step . In a dental context, one of the few instruments that allows this first approach to the values of professionalism is the Dental Values Survey, developed and applied in Canada by Langille et al, which helps to establish a Dental Values Scale. However, there is no Spanish version of this tool to apply in dental schools from Spanish speaking countries.…”