Does Gender Matter in Dental Hygiene Students’ Educational Experiences, Attitudes and Professional Behavior? A National Survey
In 2000, the first ever Surgeon General Report on Oral Health was published in the United States. This report was eye opening in many ways because it drew attention to the sad situation that certain groups of persons in the USA have high levels of oral disease and cannot find dental care. Specifically, individuals from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds or who are part of an ethnic/racial minority group or have special health care needs will be likely to suffer more from poor oral health and lack of access to dental care. The question therefore arises how allied students in the dental field can be best educated to contribute to meeting the health care needs of all individuals residing in the USA. The objectives of this project are to specifically explore if gender matters in dental hygiene students’ educational experiences, attitudes towards providing care for underserved patients and in their professional behavior. Data will be collected from dental hygiene students in the USA with an anonymous web-based survey. An informational email about this project will be sent to all 322 directors of dental hygiene programs in the USA. This email will inform them about the study and ask them to forward a recruitment email to their students. This recruitment email explains the study and asks the dental hygiene students to volunteer to respond to an anonymous web-based survey with a web-link that is provided in the email. The results will hopefully provide more insight into how dental hygiene students’ gender shapes their attitudes and professional behavior and thus the future of the dental hygiene profession.
The results will hopefully provide more insight into how dental hygiene students’ gender plus the gender imbalance in dental hygiene programs shape male and female dental hygiene students’ educational experiences, their attitudes and professional behavior and thus the future of the dental hygiene profession.