Dental hygiene students' and practitioners' resolution of professional issues

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among verbal ability, extent of education and professional experience, level of cognitive development, and age (separately and in combination) and dental hygiene students' and practitioners' ability to resolve professional issues. Forty-five dental hygiene students and graduates participated in this cross-sectional study (15 associate-degree subjects with no professional experience; 15 associate-degree subjects with professional experience; and 15 baccalaureate-degree subjects with professional experience). Ability to resolve professional issues was measured using two professional issues cases developed by the investigator. Protocols were rated separately and blindly by two raters, resulting in high interrater reliability (r = .69) and agreement estimates (80%). Results revealed that subjects with higher levels of education and professional experience achieved higher scores on the professional issues cases. Multiple regression and part correlation analyses revealed that the independent variables, in combination and separately, were of questionable value in predicting ability to respond to professional issues. While no single variable was overwhelmingly predictive, the combination variable extent of education and professional experience appeared to be the best predictor.