The Influence of Dental Hygiene Student’s Communication Ability and Conflict Management Types on Adaptation to College Life / 치위생과학회지

Background@#The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of dental hygiene students’ communication ability and conflict management types on adaptation to college life improve adaptation to college life and to suggest strategies to play a role as a professional dental hygienist in clinical practice. @*Methods@#The subjects of this study were selected by random sample extraction of dental hygiene students from two colleges in Gyeonggi and one Chungcheong area. The survey was conducted online for dental hygiene students from July 20 to October 31, 2020. In order to comply with research ethics, this study was investigated with the consent of the subjects. The sample was analyzed for the final 351. @*Results@#Dental hygiene students’ communication ability was 3.74 points, conflict management types was 3.01 points, and adaptation to college life was 3.30 points. In the type of conflict management according to the general characteristics, the problem-solving method, the avoidance method, the compromise method, and the concession method showed statistically significant differences in major satisfaction. Among the types of conflict management, the highest positive correlation (r=0.613) was shown in the relationship between the problem-solving method and the compromise method. Factors influencing the adaptation to college life were concentration, forced method, self-disclosure, conversational coherence, and social relaxation. @*Conclusion@#This study is significant in that it derives sub-areas of communication ability and conflict management types that influence adaptation to college life. In the future, there is a need to improve the quality of dental hygienists by continuously conducting research on the types of conflict management targeting dental hygienists, and responding more proactively and actively to conflict situations in the clinical field.

Correlation between Dental Hygiene Student’s Gender Sensitivity and Gender Role Stereotypes / 치위생과학회지

Background@#The purpose of this study is to identify the gender sensitivity and gender role stereotypes of students in dental hygiene and to provide basic data to expand social awareness of equal gender sensitivity and gender role in dental hygiene and students by identifying the degree of correlation. @*Methods@#The purpose of this study was to study dental hygiene students at colleges in Gyeonggi and Chungcheong areas. The survey was conducted from April 1 to April 30, 2021. The final sample was analyzed on 157 subjects. T-test and ANOVA analysis were performed to compare gender sensitivity and gender role stereotypes according to general characteristics. Equal variances were tested using the Levene statistic, and significant differences between groups were identified through Scheffe’s post hoc analysis. Pearson’s correlation analysis was performed to confirm the correlation between gender sensitivity and gender role stereotypes. @*Results@#Gender sensitivity was 2.69 and gender role stereotypes were 1.83. Among the sub-areas of gender sensitivity, gender role openness was the highest at 2.86, and non-violence was the lowest at 2.50. As for gender role stereotypes, social stereotypes were the highest among sub-areas at 1.71. Among the general characteristics, there was a statistically significant difference in gender sensitivity according to the presence or absence of opposite sex friends (p=0.011). The gender identity openness of gender sensitivity and the physical sub-areas of gender role stereotypes showed the highest positive correlation(r=0.955). Among the sub-areas of gender sensitivity, gender role openness and domestic stereotypes showed the lowest negative correlation (r=−0.404) among the sub-areas of gender role stereotypes. @*Conclusion@#Dental hygiene students should be able to critically analyze and solve problems of not only sexual violence but also gender discrimination and imbalance in social life. For this, environmental factors such as school education and professor guidance must be strengthened.

Influence of Job Embeddedness and Resilience on Turnover Intention in Dental Hygienists / 치위생과학회지

Background@#Maintaining a skilled workforce by minimizing the turnover of competent dental hygienists is very important for securing dental competitiveness. Therefore, it is necessary to find a predictor of turnover and lower turnover intention. To understand dental hygienist turnover, it is necessary to study the resilience, a positive factor of personal characteristics and job embeddedness that induces residual tissue. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of dental hygienists’ job embeddedness and resilience on turnover intention. @*Methods@#A survey was conducted on licensed dental hygienists nationwide, from March 19 to July 19, 2020. T-test and one way ANOVA analysis were performed to compare the job embeddedness, resilience, and turnover intention according to the general characteristics. Pearson’s correlation analysis was performed to identify the correlation between job embeddedness, resilience, and turnover intention. Multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the effect on the turnover intention. @*Results@#Job embeddedness was the highest with link and resilience scoring 3.57 and 4.16, respectively. The turnover intention scored 3.53. Among the general characteristics, age, marriage, total dental clinic career, education degree, and position showed statistically significant differences in job embeddedness, resilience, and turnover intention. Suitability, link, and sacrifice of job embeddedness were shown to affect the degree of turnover intention, with an explanatory power of 26.2%. @*Conclusion@#In order to reduce the dental hygienists’ turnover intention, job embeddedness and resilience should be increased.Thus, measures should be undertaken for professional and systematic program development and human resources management.

Effects of Critical Thinking and Communication Skills on the Problem-Solving Ability of Dental Hygiene Students / 치위생과학회지

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the effects of critical thinking and good communication skills on the problem-solving abilities of dental hygiene students. METHODS: A total of 508 dental hygiene students were convenience-sampled from 3 universities. RESULTS: The results revealed that critical thinking had the highest intellectual fairness score of 3.60, and systematicity was the lowest at 3.19. The values for communication skills were high in reaction, social adequacy, and concentration, with an average of 3.65. Problem-solving abilities were in the following order: clarification of the problem, seeking solutions, and decision making. According to general characteristics, more extroverted personalities possessed higher levels of critical thinking, communication skills, and problem-solving abilities (p<0.01). Critical thinking scores were high (p=0.016) in students who responded that peer relationship was difficult; however, their communication skills were the lowest (p<0.001). Additionally, problem-solving abilities were highest among students who reported a difficult peer relationship (p=0.001). The higher the satisfaction with dental hygiene academics, the higher the critical thinking, communication skill, and problem-solving ability (p<0.001). Critical thinking showed a high positive correlation with variables in the following order: clarification of the problem, performing the solutions, seeking solutions, decision making, and evaluation and reflection. The communication skills were also related to these variables listed above (p<0.01). With critical thinking, confidence, watchfulness, intellectual passion/curiosity, sound skepticism, objectivity, and systematicity all influenced the problem-solving ability. CONCLUSION: Communication skills were influenced by noise control, putting on the other's shoe, social tensions, and efficiency, which affected the problem-solving ability. Dental clinics require dental hygienists to have critical thinking to make analytical judgments and effective communication skills to solve human relation problems with patients and care-givers. Therefore, these skills should be developed in dental hygiene students to improve their problem-solving abilities.

Effects of Critical Thinking Disposition and Empathy on Cultural Competency in Dental Hygiene Students / 치위생과학회지

This study investigated the effects of critical thinking and empathy on the cultural competence of dental hygienists and students. A total of 529 dental hygiene students were randomly sampled and included as subjects. PASW Statistics for Windows ver. 18.0 was used to obtain the following results. Among the critical thinking sub-domains, cognitive integration was the highest and the lowest. Empathic ability had the highest acceptance factor among the sub-domains. Cultural competence was the highest among the sub-domains, while cultural knowledge was the lowest. According to their general characteristics, subject age, grade, religion, and economic level influenced the cultural capacity. Cultural awareness and sensitivity were high when there were foreign visiting experiences. Cultural awareness, sensitivity, skills, and knowledge were high when subjects had experienced multicultural education (p < 0.05). Cultural awareness, sensitivity, skill, experience, and knowledge were correlated with critical thinking and cultural competence, among which cultural sensitivity showed the highest correlation (p < 0.001). There was a correlation between cultural awareness and sensitivity, skill, and experience among the empathy and cultural competency sub-domains (p < 0.001). The factors influencing cultural awareness included intellectual integration, openness, prudence, and perspective-taking (p < 0.001). The factors influencing cultural sensitivity included intellectual integration, openness, and empathic concern (p < 0.001). The factors influencing cultural skill included intellectual integration, creativity, and conductivity (p < 0.001). The factors influencing cultural experience included prudence, objectivity, perspective-taking, and personal distress (p < 0.001). Finally, the factors influencing cultural knowledge included creativity and conductivity (p < 0.001). The results indicate that dental hygiene students should be equipped with cultural competence to enhance critical thinking and empathy required by the modern society and optimized dental hygiene courses should be provided for multicultural subjects.

The Effects of National Health Insurance Denture Coverage Policies for the Elderly on the Unmet Dental Needs of the Edentulous Elderly / 치위생과학회지

As the elderly population increases, they are increasingly affected by oral health problems. Therefore, efforts are being made to improve the oral health of older people, alleviate mental discomfort, and reduce unmet dental needs. This study was conducted to confirm the relationship between the National Health Insurance Elderly Denture Coverage and the unmet dental need for the edentulous elderly, as part of the protection policy. We analyzed the 2011 and 2013 Community Health Survey data of the edentulous elderly, aged 75 years or older, before 2012. In order to more precisely confirm the effects of the denture donation policy on unmet dental care, basic life recipients who were subject to the free elderly prosthetic project were excluded from the analysis. The final analysis included 20,400 subjects. According to our investigation of the factors that affect the unmet dental needs of the elderly, the National Health Insurance Elderly Denture Coverage did not affect unmet dental needs. The statistically significant variables that affected the unmet dental needs of the elderly were education and income levels, which are representative socioeconomic status variables. The lower the level of education, the unhealthier the dental care experience, and income levels showed a similar tendency. The elderly who have a low socioeconomic status are more likely to experience unmet dental needs because they lack the knowledge and socioeconomic ability to pay for dental care. Therefore, the policy for health protection of the entire elderly population should be continuously expanded. In addition, the socioeconomically vulnerable groups may have health problems due to the restriction of medical use, which may lead to quality of life deterioration.

Effects of Empathic Ability and Campus Life Stress on Stress Coping Behaviors in Dental Hygiene Students / 치위생과학회지

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of empathic ability and campus life stress on the stress coping behaviors among 395 dental hygiene students. The analysis was performed using PASW Statistics ver. 18.0, and the following conclusions were obtained. The empathic concern factor was the highest in the subscale of empathic ability (3.60). The interpersonal relationship stress was 1.65 and the task-related stress was 2.72. The stress coping behaviors were the highest among the sub-domains, with 3.69 for wishful thinking. The differences of stress coping behaviors according to general characteristics were as follows. The lower the age and grade, the higher the problem-focused coping; when they were religious there was a high pursuit of seeking social support. When they were satisfied with their economic level, wishful thinking was high. There was a low negative correlation between empathic concern and interpersonal relationship stress in campus life (p<0.01). There was a positive correlation between personal distress and task-related stress (p<0.001). The relationship between empathic ability and stress coping behaviors was most associated with personal distress and wishful thinking. Among the sub-domains of stress coping behaviors, factors that have a common impact on personal distress and seeking social support are viewpoint acceptance. Factors supporting emotional focus and wishful thinking were task-related stress. Dental hygiene students are not able to completely eliminate the stress that they are actually under. However, as the research results show, it is necessary to use stress coping techniques to cope effectively with individual tendencies and situations, and to improve the ability to sympathize with another individual.