Evaluating the cultural competency didactic curriculum at Boston University Henry M Goldman School of Dental Medicine
Date
2010
DOI
Authors
Alrqiq, Hosam Mohamed
Version
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
The growing ethnic and racial diversity in the United States has resulted in disparities in health and healthcare delivery. In response to current and projected demographic changes,many medical and dental schools have taken initiatives to prepare culturally competent healthcare providers. Many institutions pursuing this objective introduced cultural competency curriculum to their students. Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine is among these schools.
Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of a cultural competency didactic curriculum received by dental students at Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine. Methods: a Pre- and post-survey design using an instrument previously employed with pharmacy students but modified for dental settings. The questionnaire was composed of 11 items on a Likert scale designed to assess increases in students' awareness, knowledge, and skills in providing culturally competent dental care. The questionnaires were administered at the orientation and at the end of the last lecture of the curriculum. Data were collected for two graduating classes: The DMD class of 2009 and 2010. Epi Info Version 3.4.1 was used for data entry, and SAS version 9.1 was used for analysis.
Results: The total number of returned surveys was 485 with a response rate of 79.5%. The pre curriculum mean[plus or minus]sd overall cultural competency and mean [plus or minus]sd sub-scores for awareness, knowledge, and skills were 26.5[plus or minus]6.3, 5.3[plus or minus]1.4, 7.2[plus or minus]1.9, and 14.1[plus or minus]4.4, respectively. The post-curriculum mean[plus or minus]sd, overall and for awareness, knowledge, and skills were 29.8[plus or minus]7.2, 5.5[plus or minus]1.5, 8.1[plus or minus]2.1, and 16.2[plus or minus]4.4 respectively. The difference between the overall, knowledge, and skills post-curriculum and pre-curriculum was statistically significant, with the post-curriculum scores higher (p[less than]0.000 1) than the pre-curriculum scores except for awareness. There were no differences seen between the two DMD-II classes.
Conclusion: The cultural competency curriculum at Boston University School of Dental Medicine produced improvements in dental students’ confidence in their overall cultural competence, cultural competency knowledge and skills.
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Thesis (MSD) --Boston University, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, 2010 (Department of Health Policy and Health Services Research).
Includes bibliographic references: leaves 49-52.
Thesis (MSD) --Boston University, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, 2010 (Department of Health Policy and Health Services Research).
Includes bibliographic references: leaves 49-52.
License
This work is protected by copyright. Downloading is restricted to the BU community. If you are the author of this work and would like to make it publicly available, please contact open-help@bu.edu.