Undergraduate dental students’ perceptions of an internship at a Brazilian family health strategy center

Abstract

We conducted a cross-sectional study to evaluate the perceptions of undergraduate dental students (UDSs) of an internship in primary dental care within a Family Health Strategy Team (FHS-T) and associated factors. Data were collected via a self-report questionnaire. Poisson regression models were used in multivariate analysis (p<0.05). Of 175 UDSs included, 150 (85.7%) classified the FHS-T internship as important to their dental education. Being enrolled in the Community Dental Health (CDH) III course (vs CDH I) increased by 9% (prevalence ratio [PR] 1.09; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.99-1.21) the likelihood of students classifying the internship as important to their dental education. Considering the start of the FHS-T internship in the 7th semester adequate (vs inadequate) increased this likelihood by 15% (PR 1.15; 95% CI, 1.05-1.25). Classifying user embracement and home visits as important (vs unimportant) activities also increased this likelihood by 8% (PR 1.08; 95% CI, 0.99-1.17) and 21% (PR 1.21; 95% CI, 1.09-1.33), respectively. Our results suggest that the early insertion of UDSs in the FHS-T and their involvement in ‘user embracement’ and ‘home visits’ activities can significantly contribute to delivering interprofessional dental education.