Brazilian Dental Students' Experience in a Community-Based Service-Learning Program

Objectives:This study aimed to describe the experience of Brazilian dental students in a community-based service-learning program and to associate factors which might influence it. Methods:60 fourth-year dental undergraduate students from Federal University of Goias, Brazil spent 16 of the 128 hours of pediatric dentistry course at a National Health Program. Students were assigned to either “Family Health Program” or “Toddler Care Program” activities and went to community health service twice a semester. After each 4-hour experience, pairs of students filled out structured reports describing their activities and wrote reflective opinion of this experience. The cases of students who presented at least one report each semester were included. The responses were analyzed separately by two pediatric dentistry professors, who classified each report as “positive” or “negative” experience (Kappa 0.81) based on favorable or unfavorable student opinions. Independent variables were dental-treatment-practice, multidisciplinary-activity and observation-of-an-infant/toddler-consultation. Reports from the first (A and B) and second (C and D) semesters were compared. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square test. Results:75 reports representing 23 pairs of students were analyzed. Positive experience was reported in 90.9%, 73.9%, 22.2% and 16.7% of the reports in periods A, B, C and D respectively. Students' experiences were more positive in the first (82.2%) than in the second (20.0%) semester (P<0.001). Positive reports were associated with dental treatment practice (P=0.015) and toddler consultation (P=0.021). Conclusion:Dental undergraduate students had positive opinions about this community-based service-learning in the first semester, when they had little experience with the pediatric dental clinic. In the second semester, students were more likely to enjoy the experience if they performed dental treatment themselves or if they participated in the “Toddler Care Program”. Less repetitive activities are needed to encourage students after their first contact with pediatric dentistry in the community health service.