Evaluation of an academic service-learning course on special needs patients for dental hygiene students: a qualitative study.

Full Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of a service-learning course on special needs patients for dental hygiene students by considering student reflections, community site coordinators' feedback, and faculty reflections in a qualitative analysis. Twenty-three female dental hygiene students beginning their fourth semester in the program provided preventive oral health services at eight community sites serving six diverse groups of people having special health care needs. Students reflected on the experience via commentaries written in self-reflection journals. The investigators applied the constant comparative method to analyze and unitize the data, ultimately reaching consensus on three category topics:
awareness, higher order thinking, and professionalism. End of course project assessments provided additional data that was used to triangulate with data from the reflective journals. Telephone interviews with the site coordinators and personal interviews with the course faculty provided data from multiple perspectives. The outcomes of this study suggest that service-learning pedagogy can facilitate a deeper understanding of the subject matter and provide an opportunity for students to use critical thinking strategies in addition to becoming aware of complex social and professional issues related to the oral health care of individuals with special needs.

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Author information

Author/s: Keselyak, Nancy T (NT); Simmer-Beck, Melanie (M); Bray, Kimberly Krust (KK); Gadbury-Amyot, Cynthia C (CC);

Affiliation: Division of Dental Hygiene, University of Missouri-Kansas City, School of Dentistry, Kansas City, MO 64108-2784, USA. keselyakn(-atsign-)umkc.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Journal of dental education (J Dent Educ), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Mar; vol 71 (issue 3) : pp 378-92

Dates: Created 2007/03/28; Completed 2007/05/04; Revised 2007/11/15;

PMID: 17389573, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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