Tension field triad: Influences on development of professionalism in dental students

Objectives: To explore dental students’ views on what influences development of professionalism
Methods: This was a cross sectional qualitative study designed to explore the influences on development of professionalism amongst dental students. Five focus groups, one for each year of undergraduate study with 6-8 participants were selected using a sample matrix. A topic guide was formulated based on pilot study findings to facilitate discussion which was audio taped and transcribed. Thematic analysis was carried out using the software QSR NVivo 9. Ethics approval was granted (QMREC2011/93).
Results: The students were able to pinpoint particular episodes and interactions which influenced their development of professionalism. Those identified by the students included explicit teaching, care of patients, clinical teachers as role models and significant critical incidents.

An unanticipated finding was the role of patients as mentors in the development of professionalism. Patients were supportive, interested and keen to encourage the individuals who cared for them to be successful in completing their course. This extended to patients mentoring students and giving informal feedback to boost confidence.

A constant state of tension was detected in the student’s professional development. This is represented by the influences of three domains interacting, the curriculum content, the emotions of the students and the environment.
Conclusions: This tension field created by the interactions between the three domains is similar to Illeris model of learning (2004). There is a psychological interaction between learning experiences and the emotions evoked by this within the learner as well as a social interaction of the learner with the learning environment. The students’ engagement in these multiple interactions creates the tension field which stimulates the learning of professionalism.