ABSTRACT
Objective: this study was designed to evaluate the perception of students and interns toward research
Materials and Methods: the study was conducted in January 2014. Participants of the study were fourth, fifth, and 6[th] year students and interns. A questionnaire comprised thirteen questions was distributed to evaluate students' and interns' perception about the importance of research in their learning
Results: the results showed that interns and 6th year students were more interested in research as compared to their junior counterparts as they realized the importance of research in their educational growth. This was reflected by the number of interns who completed the questionnaire
Conclusion: dental students realized the importance of research in the education, but it was found that the proportion of students who did research as part of their course was very low. Students should be actively engaged in research, which can be achieved by introducing research as a compulsory component of their course
ABSTRACT
Objectives: The study aimed to identify the dental procedures that elicit the highest level of anxiety by various dental procedures and to determine the correlation of anxiety with students' gender and varying perceptions of anxiety across years of dental education
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Sardar Begum Dental College, Peshawar, Pakistan during June 2014. The Corah's Dental Anxiety Scale [DAS] was distributed to all students. This instrument had 26 items examining the anxiety levels experienced for different dental procedures. Options ranging from 1 to 4 were provided for every item, where 1 represented low anxiety and 4 represented the highest anxiety
Results: The overall response rate was 67.3% [n = 101; 64 females and 37 males]. Among the top five dental procedures eliciting the highest anxiety levels, females were found to be more anxious than males for all procedures [fear of injection/needle, root canal treatment, extraction, and application of cold air] except the need for further treatment. Pre-clinical students [1[st] and 2[nd] year] were found to be more anxious than clinical students [3[rd] and 4[th] year]. Significant differences [p < 0.05] were found for three procedures: rubber dam placement, inability to stop dentist, and impression taking. Clinical students reported high anxiety for the latter, and pre-clinical students reported higher anxiety for the former two procedures
Conclusions: Higher anxiety levels were reported by females and pre-clinical students than their respective counterparts. Educational sessions and graded exposure therapy at an initial stage of dental educational training may decrease the anxiety associated with dental procedures