Impact of Community-Based Dental Education on Attainment of ADEA Competencies: Students' Self-Ratings

Fourth-year dental students at the College of Dentistry, University of Nebraska Medical Center participate in a community-based dental education (CBDE) program that includes a four-week rotation in rural dental practices and community health clinics across Nebraska and nearby states. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of participation in the CBDE program on the self-rated competencies of these students. A retrospective survey was administered to students who participated in extramural rotations in two academic years. The survey collected demographic data and asked students to rate themselves on a scale from 1=not competent at all to 5=very competent on attainment of the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Competencies for the New General Dentist for before and after the rotations. A total of 92 responses were obtained: 43 students for 2011-12 and 49 students for 2012-13 (95% response rate for each cohort). The results showed that the students' mean pre-program self-ratings ranged from 3.28 for the competency domain of Practice Management and Informatics to 3.93 for Professionalism. Their mean post-program self-ratings ranged from 3.76 for Practice Management and Informatics to 4.31 for Professionalism. The students showed a statistically significant increase in self-ratings for all six competency domains. The increase was greatest in the domain of Critical Thinking and least in Communication and Interpersonal Skills. Overall, these results suggest that the CBDE program was effective in improving the students' self-perceptions of competence in all six domains and support the idea that a competency-based evaluation of CBDE programs can provide valuable information to dental educators about program effectiveness.