Developing dental hygiene students as future leaders in legislative advocacy

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effect of a legislative advocacy project on the knowledge, values, and actions of dental hygiene students enrolled in a leadership course. A quasi-experimental design was employed with a convenience sample of twenty-one undergraduate and seventeen graduate students. The data collection instrument was designed by the authors with three scales (knowledge, values, and actions), a section on barriers to future advocacy actions, and two open-ended questions. Content validity of the instrument was established before it was administered with an online survey tool. Students scored their pre-project and post-project status on the three scales. Cronbach's alphas revealed internal consistency of the three scales at 0.95 or higher. Pre-project scores and post-project scores were analyzed by parametric tests and confirmed using nonparametric tests. Knowledge, values, and actions statements were statistically significant; however, actions were rated the lowest. Multiple barriers for future advocacy actions were identified. Implementation of a legislative advocacy project in an undergraduate and graduate leadership course can positively influence the development of knowledge, values, and actions; however, mentorship in the professional association is needed after graduation to continue the development of future leaders.