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INTRODUCTION: Although ethics is an indispensable part of dental education, it has not yet played a relevant role in the dental curriculum in Germany. The study aimed at assessing their prior knowledge of ethical aspects, and their expectations of and wishes for ethics course of dental students, preclinical vs. clinical, at the dental school Kiel, Germany by means of a validated questionnaire. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used. The study population consisted of dental students, from pre-clinical (n = 105) and clinical semesters (n = 110). In January 2019, each student completed a validated questionnaire to identify semester-specific ethical teaching content. Besides descriptive analyses, Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare pre-clinical and clinical students. RESULTS: A total of 215 dental students, with a mean age of 25.3 (SD 4.1), participated in the study, of which 150 were female (69.8%) and 65 were male students (30.2%). The results in the areas of 'previous knowledge of ethical issues' and 'expectations and desires in terms of teaching medical ethics' showed similarities and differences between pre-clinical and clinical students. Both groups stated that they need training in ethics. Moreover, especially clinical students recognize that more ethical competence is needed if the first patient contact will start. CONCLUSION: The study indicates that there is a clear need for ethics education. Student awareness of the relevance of ethical competences and the perception of ethical problems increased progressively during the course of their studies. Overall, the study provides good support for the development of specific ethics courses.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Although medical ethics is an indispensable part of dental education, it has not played a relevant role in the dental curriculum thus far. This study is aimed at developing and validating a questionnaire that identifies semester-specific ethical issues, in order to develop longitudinal ethic modules. METHODS: March 2018 a workshop on item generation was coordinated, using Delphi method; followed by a cognitive testing with students (2nd, 4th, 10th semesters, n = 12). A pilot test was carried out with students from different semesters (n = 60). The distribution of response frequencies and missing values were determined. The questionnaire used for validation consisted of three dimensions: ethical knowledge, dealing with ethical issues, expectations in terms of teaching. The psychometric examination was carried out by preclinical students (n = 105) and clinical semesters (n = 110) January 2019. RESULTS: After cognitive testing and piloting, some items were reformulated, so that a questionnaire with 127 items was used for validation. The individual dimensions were assigned to various factors with excellent to acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's α 0.72-0.96). CONCLUSION: The questionnaire has an acceptable to excellent consistency and suggests that the different dimensions are conclusive. With this questionnaire, ethical issues in dentistry can be mapped and teaching contents identified.
