Dental and Dental Hygiene Students’ Career Choice Motivations in 2009–17: A Mixed Methods Approach

Abstract

The aims of this study were to explore career choice motivations of dental and dental hygiene students and whether their motivations differed from each other, whether their motivations changed from 2009 to 2017, and whether these motivations were affected by students’ age when they decided on their career or by having a spouse/partner or family member in dentistry/dental hygiene. A total of 959 incoming dental students and 270 incoming dental hygiene students at one U.S. university in 2009–17 were invited to participate in the study. Of those invited, 783 dental students (response rate 82%) and 256 dental hygiene students (response rate 95%) completed the paper and pencil surveys. Two independent raters coded the open-ended responses concerning career choice motivations (88% consistency). Overall, the most frequent motivations for the two groups combined were wanting to help others (44%) and wanting a profession in the health care field (31%); the least frequent motivation was business-related reasons (9%). The dental students were more likely than the dental hygiene students to choose their profession because of wanting to help others (47% vs. 36%; p=0.001), human interaction aspects (23% vs. 11%; p<0.001), and hands-on aspects (22% vs. 4%; p<0.001). The dental hygiene students were more likely than the dental students to be motivated by wanting a profession in the health care field (46% vs. 26%; p<0.001) and own dental experiences (22% vs. 12%; p<0.001). The more recently the dental students enrolled, the more likely they were to be motivated by wanting to help others (r=0.15; p<0.001) and the less by being inspired by others (r=−0.15; p<0.001). Having a spouse/partner made dental students less motivated by wanting to help others and more by science-related motivations. These findings provided insights into the dental and hygiene students’ career motivations and the factors that affect them. This information could contribute to more effective recruitment strategies.