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Acceptance of psychology teaching in paediatric dentistry by undergraduate dental students
Author(s) -
Kalwitzki Matthias
Publication year - 1997
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/j.1600-0579.1997.tb00004.x
Subject(s) - relevance (law) , medical education , psychology , paediatric dentistry , dental education , dentistry , medicine , political science , law
By means of a questionnaire, 4 cohorts of undergraduate students ( n = 144) were asked before and after the clinical course in paediatric dentistry about their acceptance of the teaching of psychological aspects in dentistry. A generally very high interest was found for psychology as well as for child‐related psychology. The teaching of this topic by means of lectures was thought to be useful, but other didactic means were demanded to supplement teaching. For many of the aspects taught, more information was requested. Moreover, teaching of aspects not taught in the lectures was also requested. The more obvious the practical relevance of each topic appeared, the greater was the students' interest. Psychology was thought to be useful as an aid to paediatric treatment. However, interest dropped after the completion of the paediatric dentistry course. It is concluded that undergraduate dental students have no particular inclination towards the treatment of children but rather a need for guidelines to avoid potential problems in dealing with this demanding group of patients.