Assessing Cultural Competence among Florida's Allied Dental Faculty

The Commission on Dental Accreditation requires that dental, dental hygiene and dental assisting schools offer educational experiences to ensure that prospective dental health care providers become culturally competent, socially responsible practitioners. To assert that these mandates are met requires that the faculty are knowledgeable and capable of providing this type of training. Currently, little is known about the cultural competence of the state of Florida allied dental faculty. The purpose of this study was to assess the cultural competence among the dental hygiene and dental assistant faculty in the state of Florida.

One hundred ninety-three faculty were invited to take the Knowledge, Efficacy and Practices Instrument (KEPI), a validated measure of cultural competence. Respondents included 77 (74%) full-time and 27 (26%) part-time faculty. Data were analyzed descriptively and reliabilities (Cronbach's alpha) were computed.

Mean scores and internal estimates of reliability on the KEPI subscales were: knowledge of diversity 3.3 (ɑ=0.88), culture-centered practice 3.6 (ɑ=0.88) and efficacy of assessment 2.9 (ɑ=0.74). The participant's score of 3.6 on the culture-centered practice exceeds scores among dental students and faculty who participated in previous studies suggesting the allied dental faculty have a greater awareness of sociocultural and linguistically diverse dental patients' oral health needs. Participants' score on knowledge of diversity subscales suggests a need for moderate training, while their score on the efficacy of assessment subscale indicates a need for more intense training.

Assessing faculty beliefs, knowledge and skills about cultural competency is critically important in ensuring that accreditation standards are being met and represents one step in the process of ensuring that faculty demonstrate the type of sensitivity and responsiveness, which characterizes behaviors associated with cultural competence.