title: Cross-cultural comparison of the attitudes of dental students in three countries.
abstract: The aim of this study was to identify and compare the attitudes of dental students toward their career choice and dental education in three different countries. Three hundred thirty-six dental students from the University of British Columbia, Canada; Mahidol University and Chiang Mai University, Thailand; and Nippon Dental University, Japan, participated in this study. Information was derived from a questionnaire consisting of career choice items and dental education items. Significant differences in the responses of the participants from each of the three countries were detected for each of the questionnaire items (P<0.001). Regarding factors that may have served as motivations for career choice, the majority of dental students from each country indicated positive reasons such as interpersonal motives, caring for other people, and academic interest. For future career options, the majority of Japanese and Canadian students planned to work as general dentists. Thai students were more likely than Japanese or Canadian to prefer specialization than practicing general dentistry. Nearly three-quarters of the Canadian and Thai students were satisfied with the teaching faculty of their schools, while only a quarter of the Japanese students indicated satisfaction. The findings from this study enhance our understanding of differences and/or similarities among dental students in three nations; this information may help to define strategies to improve the quality of international student exchange programs.
authors.affiliation: Nippon Dental University, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, 1-9-20 Fujimi Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-8159, Japan. h-karibe@tky.ndu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Karibe
authors.forename: Atsuko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Tsuneo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sekimoto
authors.forename: M L Theerathavaj
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Srithavaj
authors.forename: Anak
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iamaroon
authors.forename: Sachie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Warita
authors.forename: Tomomi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawakami
authors.forename: Kiyokazu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ogata
authors.forename: Toshiomi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shirase
authors.forename: Sen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakahara
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001955:British Columbia; D002170:Canada; D002321:Career Choice; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004497:Education, Dental; D005190:Family; D005792:General Practice, Dental; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008005:Licensure, Dental; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012570:School Admission Criteria; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013039:Specialties, Dental; D013335:Students, Dental / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013785:Thailand