ADHA's focus on advancing the profession: Minnesota's dental hygiene educators' response

Area of Science:

• Dental Hygiene Education
• Higher Education Program Development

Background:

• Advancing the dental hygiene profession requires baccalaureate degree completion programs.
• Associate degree programs are the current standard for dental hygienists.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess associate degree dental hygiene students' interest in baccalaureate degree completion.
• To identify preferred educational formats and course topics for these programs.
• To evaluate alignment with the American Dental Hygienists' Association (ADHA) focus areas.

Main Methods:

• A survey was administered to 206 first- and second-year dental hygiene students across 8 Minnesota programs.
• The survey assessed interest in degree completion, preferred learning venues, and specific course topics.
• Course topics were categorized according to ADHA focus areas: research, education, practice & technology, licensure & regulation, and public health.

Main Results:

• 66% of students expressed interest in completing their baccalaureate degree.
• Preferred educational venues included evening off-site classes (50.4%) and fully online formats (35.6%).
• Students showed highest interest in technology (58.3%) and advanced clinical instrumentation (55.7%), with least interest in research (8.3%) and statistics (7.6%).

Conclusions:

• There is significant demand for dental hygiene baccalaureate degree-completion programs.
• Nontraditional educational formats (online, evening off-site) are crucial for attracting students.
• Curriculum should prioritize practice and technology topics, aligning with student interest and ADHA advancement goals.