The influence of a patient-management course to dental hygiene students on the dental anxiety of their patients.
This study investigated the effect of teaching dental hygiene students a course in caregiver-patient relationships on their patients' dental anxiety, and patients' feelings toward known anxiety-provoking stimuli. The study group (twenty-five men and twenty-five women) was treated by a class of dental hygiene students following a behavioral course given after the first visit. The control group (twenty-four men, twenty-six women) was treated by another class without the intervention. Corah's Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS) and a twelve-item questionnaire identifying specific anxiety-provoking situations were completed by the patients before initial visit and after the third visit. A significant reduction in DAS within the study group was observed after the intervention. In both groups, women demonstrated higher anxiety. No significant difference was found in the twelve-item questionnaire after intervention in both groups. These findings suggest that a four-hour behavioral course to a class of dental hygiene students was an influencing factor in reducing their patients' levels of dental anxiety.
Peretz
B
B
Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Hadassah Faculty of Dental Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel. Benny@cc.huji.ac.il
Kaplan
R
R
Stabholtz
A
A
D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003756:Dental Hygienists / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008347:Manifest Anxiety Scale; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires