Competencies of dental public health for undergraduate students and their self-perceived achievements: The case of Iran

Abstract

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to develop Dental Public Health (DPH) competencies and to assess the self-perceived achievements of undergraduate students in regard to these competencies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the first phase, by using the mixed method of the RAND-UCLA model, a list of the proposed competencies was developed and validated based on three-round expert consensus using both rating and group discussing method. In the second phase, 120 senior (final-year) dental students were asked to determine their achievements based on the finalised list of competency statements on a 0-10 numerical scale. Descriptive statistical analysis was then performed using SPSS (version 22) to determine the mean score of the items and domains. Some background factors were also tested for any relationship. RESULT: After three rounds of implementing the RAND-UCLA method, 31 statements in 10 domains were developed and validated. The mean total score of the self-reported competency was 176.87 ± 52.4 amongst the recruited dental students with a range of 37 to 304. The highest mean ± sd score (7.7 ± 1.8) was found for the preventive oral health services field, whilst the lowest one (4.5 ± 2.3) was reported for understanding the components and functions of the health system. The average self-reported scores of professional ethics and professionalism, evidence-based practice and oral health determinants were also acceptable amongst them. CONCLUSION: The finalised competencies gained the consensus level of agreement and appropriateness by representatives of all DPH experts in the country. However, according to the dental students' self-reports, they had moderate competencies in most cases. Therefore, content and applied methods of training and evaluation may need to be revised to support students' development. Also, the complementary evaluation method at real work setting is highly suggested.