Survey of the change in the recognition of dental college students for people with disabilities before and after the special care dentistry classes

Abstract

An opportunity for dental students to come into contact with individuals with disabilities is insufficient. Therefore, prejudice and negative attitudes towards persons with disabilities persist. Working under the assumption that educating dental students regarding people with disabilities will bring about positive awareness, we conducted this study. We investigated the changes in the recognition of the issues and needs of people with disabilities before and after special care dentistry class of students of dental college that will include an experience in a dental clinic with a disabled person. Seventy-two Kyung Hee University School of Dentistry third-year dental students attended the special care dentistry class in one semester and they took the same survey was before and after the class. In the questionnaire, we used the disability factor scale (DFS) that Siller has proposed. The authoritarian virtuousness factor getting lower to a significant level after receiving an education. This means that after the education, the respondents realize that how hard to adapt the disabilities. After receiving an education, the rejection of intimacy factor score significantly get higher than before they took the class. This means that after the training, positive attitudes towards those with disabilities were better than those towards the opposite sex. We were able to confirm a positive change in the recognition for persons with disabilities through the special care dentistry class. Our study shows that educating dental students on the how to take care of individuals with disabilities can bring about a positive change in the attitudes students may have regarding them.