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The benefits of integrating dental and dental therapy and hygiene students in undergraduate curricula
Author(s) -
Zahra Daniel,
Belfield Louise,
Bennett Jon,
Zaric Svetislav,
Mcilwaine Clare
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
european journal of dental education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.583
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1600-0579
pISSN - 1396-5883
DOI - 10.1111/eje.12394
Subject(s) - bachelor , curriculum , dental hygiene , medical education , dental education , test (biology) , medicine , psychology , dentistry , pedagogy , political science , paleontology , law , biology
Purpose The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the impact of integrating the teaching of Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) and Bachelor of Dental Therapy and Hygiene (BScDTH) students in enquiry‐based learning (EBL) sessions, using performance on multiple related integrated dental science (IDS) multiple‐choice question assessments. Method IDS assessments are sat twice in the first stages of both the BDS and BScDTH programmes. IDS scores from integrated and non‐integrated cohorts were collated and compared across test occasions (first or second assessment of the stage) and programmes (BDS and BScDTH). Results The results revealed that IDS scores were, overall, significantly higher for students in integrated ( M = 63.46, SD = 13.06) than non‐integrated EBL groups ( M = 60.75, SD = 13.67; F (1,207) = 4.277, P = 0.040, < ! [ C D A T A [ η p 2 ] ] > = 0.020). Although this effect was not statistically significant when each programme was considered separately, the effect of integration on both programmes was nevertheless positive, with a more pronounced improvement for BScDTH (+7.88) than BDS (+0.63) students. Conclusions Integrating students from different programmes for the teaching of core dental knowledge in team environments improves student performance in subsequent dental science assessments—and more so for BScDTH than BDS students. The fact that both groups benefit from integration should go some way towards reassuring institutions that are considering integration but are cautious of threats to “established” programmes.