title: Assessment of willingness to provide diabetes education and counseling in a dental school clinic.
abstract: Diabetes mellitus is a major public health concern for the U.S. population because of its high prevalence and long-term health implications. The purpose of this study was to apply the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to assess dental faculty member and student willingness to provide diabetes education and counseling to patients in a dental school. A survey was administered to dental students (n=101 respondents) and faculty members (n=39 respondents), and summary scores for seven diabetic educational activities and TPB constructs were calculated and analyzed. Participants were most willing to refer a patient to a physician for treatment and provide basic information about diabetes and oral health, and they were least willing to provide basic information about diabetic medications. Importance, self-efficacy, and barriers constructs predicted willingness to perform diabetic educational or counseling activities. Our findings suggest that, when developing innovative approaches to expand diabetic education and counseling in our dental education environment, programs should demonstrate how diabetic counseling can improve patients' health and should include diabetic management skills-building in the curriculum.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Dentistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612-7213, USA. fischerd@uic.edu
authors.forename: Dena J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koerber
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002641:Chicago; D003376:Counseling; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003740:Dental Clinics; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000523:psychology*; D004497:Education, Dental / Q000379:methods; D005179:Faculty, Dental; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012575:Schools, Dental; D013335:Students, Dental / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires