Ethnic and racial minority students in U.S. entry-level dental hygiene programs: a national survey

The United States is rapidly becoming a more multicultural society. Although minority groups are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population, minorities are not pursuing careers in health care professions in the same proportions. The literature suggests that increasing the number of minorities in the health care professions will increase access to health care for minority populations and help non-minority health care professionals become more aware of and sensitive to minority issues. The results reported here are part of a larger national survey that examined the commitment of entry-level dental hygiene programs to ethnic/racial diversity.

A 19-item survey was mailed in 1998 to all 233 entry-level dental hygiene program directors in the United States. The survey was piloted using a random sample of six entry-level dental hygiene program directors in the United States. Data were collected on demographics, formal written mission statements that support ethnic/racial diversity, minority recruitment programs, and recruitment mechanisms. Data were analyzed using frequencies, chi-square, t-tests, F-tests and Pearson correlation coefficients. The response rate was 60.1% (140).

Results indicate that 10.5% of dental hygiene students and 6.7% of dental hygiene faculty are members of ethnic/racial minorities. Results also indicate that Asian and Pacific Islander (API) students are not underrepresented in U.S. entry-level dental hygiene programs, but Asian and Pacific Islander faculty are.

A statistically significant relationship was found between the percentage of 1) minority faculty and students in entry-level dental hygiene programs; and 2) minority students and minorities in the state where the entry-level dental hygiene program resides.