Correlation between theoretical knowledge and the difference between self- and teaching doctor-assessment

Area of Science:

• Dental Education
• Medical Self-Assessment

Background:

• Self-assessment is crucial for dental professionals' continuous learning.
• Accurate self-assessment without bias is a complex skill.
• This skill is often inversely related to a student's knowledge level.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the correlation between dental students' theoretical knowledge and their self-assessment accuracy.
• To investigate the relationship between theoretical knowledge and the difference between self-assessment and teaching doctor-assessment.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the "digital course organizer" app for daily self- and teaching doctor-assessments during clinical courses.
• Compared the difference between self- and teaching doctor-assessments with initial theoretical written test scores.
• Included 309 dental students from the fourth and fifth years (eighth and 10th semesters).

Main Results:

• Observed very low correlations (<0.2) between the initial written test scores and the assessment differences.
• The study found minimal association between theoretical knowledge and the accuracy of self-assessment in practical dental courses.

Conclusions:

• Theoretical knowledge showed very low correlation with the difference between self- and teaching doctor-assessments.
• No significant evidence of overestimation or underestimation bias was found in relation to theoretical knowledge.