Correlations Between Dental Hygiene Students' Participation in Program Assessments and Program Improvements

Purpose Students can play an influential role in the assessment process of dental hygiene programs; however, little is known about how students contribute to program improvements. The purpose of this study was to explore the correlations between dental hygiene students' participation in program assessments and program improvements.Methods The adapted National Institute Learning Outcomes Assessment questionnaire survey was distributed via email to 325 dental hygiene program administrators in the United States identified from the Commission on Dental Accreditation database. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the professional characteristics of the respondents. Spearman's rank-order correlation was used to analyze the responses from the closed-ended ranked questionnaire. Responses to open-ended questions were reviewed for common themes.Results Fifty-five eligible program administrators completed the online questionnaire. Correlations were found between students' participation in assessment methods and contribution to program improvements in areas of the self-study process, program learning goals, curriculum, instruction, and overall program performance. The strongest correlations were evident between student participation in the capstone course and revising program curriculum (rs=.444, p=.001), revising program learning goals (rs=.468, p<.001), and improving instruction (rs=.481, p<.001). Open-ended responses revealed changes made in the program curriculum, teaching practice, academic policy, and assessment practice.Conclusion Results from this study showed dental hygiene program administrators felt that students who participate or are represented in assessments made contributions to program improvement. Administrators should consider student participation in the dental hygiene program planning and assessment processes.