Malaysian Senior Dental Officers' Perceptions Of The Employability Of Male Dental Nurses And Possible Policy Implications

ABSTRACT

Background: In Malaysia, training to enter dentalnursing profession is only open to women. Ironically,there are no such gender restrictions on training forany other health related professions in Malaysia.Aim: Therefore this study aims to assess theperceptions of Malaysian Senior Dental Officers(SDOs) towards the employability of male workers inthe dental nursing profession and to compare findingsfrom male and female SDOs. Methods: This crosssectional study was carried out on all SDOs inMinistry of Health, Malaysia, using a self-administeredquestionnaire. Descriptive statistics and a chi squaretest were used to address the study objectives. Results:Of the 112 participants, 78 SDOs returned thequestionnaire, yielding a response rate of 70%. Themajority of SDOs had positive perceptions of theemployment of male dental nurses. It was indicated thatgender is an important indicator for workforcedevelopment, and that the employment of both maleand female dental nurses would enhance productivity.Almost 70% of SDOs perceived that the productivityof oral health service would be enhanced by havingmale and female dental nurses but 84.6% disagreedthat male dental nurses would be more productive thanfemale. Two thirds of SDOs disagreed that male dentalnurses would increase satisfaction among malepatients. About 64% of male SDOs disagreed thatdental nursing profession is associated with femaletraits. There was no significant difference betweenperceptions by male and female SDOs for anystatements. Conclusion: The majority of MalaysianSDOs have positive perceptions towards theemployability of male dental nurses, and perceiveddental nursing as a suitable profession for bothgenders. Training for the dental nursing professionshould therefore be made available for men.