Dental hygiene continuing education. Satisfaction and achievement

This study addresses questions associated with performance on a continuing education course in periodontics and the participants' satisfaction with that course. The authors examine relationships between pre- and post-course test scores and various characteristics of the 120 dental hygienists who enrolled in one or more continuing education courses on periodontics. Four characteristics were found to be related to pre-course test scores. Those who performed significantly better on the written pre-course test generally were (1) younger, (2) less experienced, (3) educators and (4) four-year graduates rather than two-year graduates. Those who went on to take additional continuing education courses in periodontics had higher mean scores on the post-course I test than those who did not. Satisfaction with the course was generally high. Additional research is needed on factors which may influence achievement in a continuing education program and encourage participation in additional learning experiences.