title: Comparing methods of cultural competency training and assessment in a predoctoral dental course.
abstract: Cultural competence is considered an important skill in health care delivery; accordingly, it requires an effective and efficient course of training. Web-based teaching has increasingly been used in medical education with a few reports also in the dental field; however, there is a lack of evidence of its full application and usefulness. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of web-based case scenarios in comparison with seminar-based training to deliver cultural competency material to the health care provider in training. Eighty-one fourth-year dental students attending a mandatory Special Patients' Care clinical rotation were randomly allocated to receive first either a session of seminar or web-based case scenarios on cultural competence, with all students receiving a manual containing information about various cultures and the issues of cultural diversity on the first day of the training. All students underwent pre- and post-training examinations, which were conducted using a multiple-choice questionnaire and a self-analytic evaluation. Both the seminar and the web-based case scenarios resulted in significant improvement (p≤0.001) of scores comparing the pre- and posttest outcomes. Training either as a seminar or a series of web-based case scenarios combined with written material presented in a manual was found to increase students' cultural competence.
authors.affiliation: Ostrow School of Dentistry, University of Southern California, 925 West 34th Street, DEN 4202, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. venturin@usc.edu
authors.forename: Jaqueline S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Venturin
authors.forename: Piedad S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Durall
authors.forename: Reyes
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Enciso
authors.forename: Glenn T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Roseann
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mulligan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002140:California; D054521:Cultural Competency / Q000193:education*; D003479:Curriculum; D003812:Dentist-Patient Relations; D004497:Education, Dental / Q000379:methods*; D020375:Education, Distance; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008370:Manuals as Topic; D012681:Sensitivity Training Groups; D013335:Students, Dental / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires