Moral reasoning in dental hygiene students

Area of Science:

• Dental Education
• Moral Development
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Assessing moral reasoning is crucial for healthcare professionals.
• Previous research has not extensively compared dental hygiene students' moral reasoning to other groups.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the moral reasoning level of dental hygiene students.
• To compare their moral reasoning with college students and a general normative group.
• To examine the relationship between moral reasoning and academic/clinical performance.

Main Methods:

• Sixty-five post-certificate dental hygiene students participated.
• Moral reasoning levels were compared to normative and college student groups.
• Correlations were analyzed with clinical performance, academic scores, and cognitive style.

Main Results:

• Dental hygiene students exhibited higher moral reasoning than the normative group.
• Their moral reasoning level matched that of typical college students.
• Positive correlations were found between moral reasoning and clinical performance, exam scores, and cognitive style.

Conclusions:

• Post-certificate dental hygiene students possess a sophisticated level of moral reasoning.
• Moral reasoning is a significant factor associated with academic achievement and clinical competence in dental hygiene.
• Further research could explore interventions to enhance moral reasoning in dental education.