Attitudes of dental hygienists toward continuing education

The purpose of this study was to assess attitudes of dental hygienists toward continuing education (CE) in two states: Kentucky, a state with mandatory continuing education (MCE), and Virginia, a state without MCE. A self-designed, 13-item, attitudinal questionnaire was sent to a random sample of licensed hygienists in Kentucky and Virginia. Of the 400 hygienists surveyed (200 in Virginia and 200 in Kentucky), 246 questionnaires were returned for an overall response rate of 61.5%. Data analyses reveal that the majority of respondents from Kentucky and Virginia believe that dental hygienists have a professional obligation to improve their knowledge and skills through participation in continuing education, and that participation in CE contributes to personal self-esteem and confidence. However, the behavior of Virginia respondents seems to be in conflict with their attitudes, since the majority of Virginia respondents on the average had earned an extremely small number of CEUs in the last two years compared to the majority of Kentucky respondents who had earned a large number of CEUs. Generally, Kentucky dental hygienists responded more often in the affirmative than Virginia respondents regarding CE, particularly in areas of mandatory continuing education and benefits of CE. Results of this study indicate that mandated CE does not negatively influence attitudes of dental hygienists toward CE, since Kentucky respondents had more positive attitudes toward CE while Virginia respondents had less positive or more unformed attitudes toward CE. Therefore, increased exposure to CE through MCE may result in more favorable attitudes of dental hygienists toward continuing education.