JDE
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

J Dent Educ. 73(5): 631-639 2009
© 2009 American Dental Education Association
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Polychronopoulou, A.
Right arrow Articles by Divaris, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Polychronopoulou, A.
Right arrow Articles by Divaris, K.

International Dental Education

Dental Students’ Perceived Sources of Stress: A Multi-Country Study

Argy Polychronopoulou, D.D.S., M.S., Sc.M., Sc.D.; Kimon Divaris, D.D.S.

Key words: stress, dental education, dental students, PBL, costs

Submitted for publication 12/20/07; accepted 02/20/09

The aim of this study was to identify dental students’ self-reported sources of stress and to explore the role of specific curricular and institutional differences in the variation of perceived stressors among dental students in Greece, Ireland, Slovenia, Sweden, Spain, and Croatia. A thirty-item modified version of the Dental Environment Stress (DES) questionnaire was administered to all undergraduate students enrolled at six European dental schools selected to reflect geographical, curricular, and professional environment diversity: Athens, Greece; Dublin, Ireland; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Malmö, Sweden; Santiago de Compostela, Spain; and Zagreb, Croatia. Participation varied from 93 percent in Athens to 65 percent in Dublin. A total of 1,492 questionnaires were available for analysis. Univariate analysis and multivariate modelling were used for data analysis. Performance pressure, workload, and self-efficacy beliefs constituted the students’ main concerns. In the univariate analysis, student responses differed by country: Swedish students provided the lowestst scores in five out of six DES factors, Spanish students were the most concerned about "clinical training" and "performance pressure," whereas Greek students were the most concerned about "patient treatment." Multivariate modelling revealed that problem-based learning (PBL) was inversely associated with perceived stress for "self-efficacy beliefs" OR (95% CI): 0.66 (0.52, 0.84), "workload" OR (95% CI): 0.58 (0.41, 0.80); and "clinical training" OR (95% CI): 0.69 (0.50, 0.95) when compared to traditional curricula. Students’ perceived stressors differed greatly among the six institutions and were associated with both individual (gender, study level) and educational/institutional (curriculum type, class size, educational costs) parameters.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2009 by the American Dental Education Association.