Attitudes among dental students concerning dental public health as a professional career.

Abstract

The report has presented information about attitudes concerning Career in Dental Public Health of 722 dental students representing 19 American schools of dentistry. "Attitude" was operationally defined by the "attractiveness" of the concept as measured in 1969 with the semantic differential technic (exciting-dull, rewarding-frustrating, successful-unsuccessful).-6 The "attractiveness" of Career in Dental Public Health was compared with that of two other concepts: Career in Private Practice and Career in Dental Education. Specifications were made according to year of study, individual school, type of school (public or private control), geographical region of university town, and dental school relation to graduate schools of public health. Observed differences in student attitudes at the different schools were analyzed in relation to the emphasis each school placed in 1968-69 on instruction in (dental) public health, and to the amount of experieniced instruction in (dental) public health by each individual class.