What influences attitudes toward professionalism in dental students?

To explore dental students' attitudes toward professionalism and the environmental, institutional, and student-related factors that may be associated with these attitudes.

A cross-sectional online survey, conducted in 2020, analyzed data from a convenience sample of undergraduate dental students at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto. Attitudes toward professionalism were assessed using Likert scale statements related to the American Dental Education Association professionalism values of "Fairness," "Responsibility," "Respect," and "Service-mindedness." Codes ranging from 1 to 5 were assigned for the different levels of agreement and an "attitudes toward professionalism score" (ATPS) was computed by summing the codes for all the statements. Greater agreement with the statements or a higher ATPS indicated more positive attitudes toward professionalism. Association of the ATPS with environmental, institutional, and student-related factors was investigated using non-parametric tests and linear regression.

The survey yielded a response rate of 51.4% (n = 221). The majority of respondents agreed with all professionalism statements. Results showed that the ATPS was significantly associated with and decreased for students who viewed their future patients as consumers (β = -3.41, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -5.21, -1.60), experienced unprofessional faculty behavior (β = -2.45, 95% CI: -4.88, -0.01), and chose to pursue dentistry for financial benefit (β = -2.55, 95% CI: -4.63, -0.47).

This sample of dental students generally had positive attitudes toward professionalism and numerous factors were associated with these attitudes. Enhancing the instruction and reinforcement of professional attitudes may be important to students' application of professionalism in decisions regarding clinical practice.