Abstract
BackgroundDue to the declining birth rate and aging of Japanese society, the roles and responsibilities of dental hygienists are continuously expanding. Medical professionalism needs to be pursued continuously throughout one’s career in order to improve dental care and treatment. Although conceptualising professionalism is essential to the education of health professionals, professionalism in the field of dental hygiene has not been defined or adequately examined in Japan. The purposes of this study are to investigate dental hygienists’ perceptions of the constituent elements of professionalism and the factors affecting their perceptions.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 dental hygienists in Japan. Drawing on the conceptualisation of professionalism in medicine described by Van de Camp et al., the transcribed data were thematically analysed.ResultsThe dental hygienists in this study perceived 70 constituent elements that were categorised into eight core competencies related to professionalism. These competencies were further classified into three main themes: intrapersonal, interpersonal, and public professionalism. There were three sociohistorical factors that affected their perceptions of the constituent elements, namely academic background (university or technical school), the contexts of any previously provided dental care (university hospital or dental clinic), and their social interactions with their colleagues during their engagement in dental practice (dental team or interprofessional team). Moreover, according to their sociohistorical backgrounds, the dental hygienists saw themselves variously as scholars (university graduates), facilitators (university hospital), skillful artisans (dental clinic), or collaborators (interprofessional team).ConclusionsDental hygienists’ perceptions of professionalism are multidimensional and context-dependent, so culture- and professional-specific elements need to be included in educational curricula and continuing professional development programmes. In particular, the conceptualisation of professionalism in the field of dental hygiene as described in this study can be a springboard for enhancing undergraduate education and clinical training.
Highlights
Due to the declining birth rate and aging of Japanese society, the roles and responsibilities of dental hygienists are continuously expanding
Constituent elements of professionalism for dental hygienist (DH) In total, this study identified 70 constituent elements related to the concept of professionalism as perceived by DHs in Japan
These constituent elements were categorised into eight core elements, which were classified into three main themes: intrapersonal, interpersonal, and public professionalism
Summary
Due to the declining birth rate and aging of Japanese society, the roles and responsibilities of dental hygienists are continuously expanding. Medical professionalism needs to be pursued continuously throughout one’s career in order to improve dental care and treatment. Conceptualising professionalism is essential to the education of health professionals, professionalism in the field of dental hygiene has not been defined or adequately examined in Japan. The purposes of this study are to investigate dental hygienists’ perceptions of the constituent elements of professionalism and the factors affecting their perceptions. Since the ancient Greek era, ‘the social contract’ has been considered a pledge by means of which a professional group dedicates itself to the enhancement of the public interest in the group’s specialty field. Medical professionalism needs to be pursued continuously throughout an individual’s professional career in order to improve patient care and treatment. Professionalism was not clearly defined as an element of competence for a long time. Competency and professionalism are related, both terms are used interchangeably, adding to the confusion surrounding their definitions [9]
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