title: Perceptions of Indian dental hygiene students toward their profession and its relationship with their explicit self-esteem scores.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions toward the profession, the level of explicit self-esteem (ESE) of Indian students pursuing the course of dental hygienists, to evaluate the relationship between the two and to develop educational strategies to positively influence students' perceptions. We also wished to evaluate the level of satisfaction of the students to the current status of professional employment in the country.
  
  
  METHODS
  Students in the second year of the dental hygienist 2-year course were asked to participate in a cross-sectional survey study. An instrument was used to obtain students' perceptions about the profession by estimating the dimensions of "Motivation," "Expectation" and "Environment". Their self-esteem was evaluated using the Rosenberg self-esteem scale. Relationship of self esteem scores with perceptions towards profession was then evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Scores for dimensions including "Motivation," "Expectation" and "Environment" were significantly high, as were the self-esteem scores. The level of ESE was positively correlated with their perceptions of the profession.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The perception of the Indian dental hygienist students was significantly high and positively correlated to the ESE scores. We also conclude that environmental factors may be more influential than innate cultural factors for the development of self-esteem.
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontics, Dr. Harvansh Singh Judge Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Shipra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontics, Dr. Harvansh Singh Judge Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Ashish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontics, Bhojia Dental College and Hospital, Baddi, Himachal Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Sakshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Garg
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontics, Dr. Harvansh Singh Judge Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Shaveta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sood
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontics, Government Dental College and Hospital, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Bindiya
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kumari
keywords: Dental hygiene education; perception; profession; self-esteem