IADR Abstract Archives

Assessing the Impact of Communicational Skills Training on Improving Empathy levels of Dental Students

Objective: Empathy between providers and recipients of oral and dental hygiene services plays an important role in patient satisfaction, oral health care efficacy, and healthy relationships. Hence, the aim of this study was to evaluate the self-reported empathy levels of dental undergraduate students considering the communicational skills course which was added to dental curriculum during revision. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted at Shahid Beheshti dental school. 65 undergraduate students were divided into two groups: (a) students who have passed the communicational skills course, and (b) students who have not pass the course. An empathy level of students was assessed by the Jefferson Scale of Empathy ? Health Profession Students Version Questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was performed using SPSS version 20 and data were analyzed by t-Test, ANOVA and Two Way tests. Results: There was insignificant differences in mean empathy scores regarding gender and age, with higher empathy score in women(P=0.078) and students of higher age group(P=0.402). The mean empathy score of the student who have not pass the course (104.42) was significantly higher than those who have pass the course (96.94) (P value= 0.013). Conclusion: The empathy scores of undergraduate dental students are less than the ideal levels. Proper educational programs should be considered to improve empathy scores in dental students prior to entering the clinical departments.
Iranian Division Meeting
2020 Iranian Division Annual Meeting (Virtual)
Virtual
2020

Accepted Abstracts
  • Afshar, Leila  ( MD, PhD of Medical Ethics, Associate Professor, Department of Medical Ethics, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. )
  • Naseri, Mandana  ( Associate Professor, Iranian Center for Endodontic Research, Research Institute of Dental Sciences, School of Dentistry, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. )
  • Shakerian, Sareh  ( Departments of Community Based Education of Health Sciences, Virtual School of Medical Education and Management, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. )
  • Hosseini Tabatabaee, Mehrnoosh  ( M.Sc. in Medical Education, School of Medical Education, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. )
  • Eftekhar, Leila  ( Assistant Professor Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Dental School, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran. )
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    Oral Presentation