Development of Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy Students Using Programmatic Approaches to Assessment

The competency in Dental Hygiene/Dental Therapy (DH/DT) students is often determined using one-off high-stakes clinical tests. These approaches can have questionable validity/reliability and negatively impact learning because any feedback provided cannot improve the outcome. Programmatic assessment (PA) can improve the validity/reliability of assessment and support learning due to focus longitudinal learner development supported by feedback. However, PA has its own implementation challenges. The purpose of this study was to investigate staff/student opinions over the existing assessment strategies, and the potential acceptance of a PA approach.

To gain insights into the views of staff and students on the impact of current forms of assessment within clinical modules. To gauge the acceptance of staff and students for adopting PA.

Four staff and five second-year DT/DH students participated in separate focus groups. Following data collection, thematic analysis was used to identify themes.

The data suggested that problems with 'on the day' clinical tests included fairness over their timing, validity and reliability in terms of their generalisability and a negative impact on student behaviours, such as heightened anxiety and a focus on gaining marks, rather than on the patient. The data also suggested that staff/students could see the benefit of the PA approach.

The results supported the existing literature over the challenges with 'on the day' clinical tests in the areas of validity, reliability and educational impact.

A move to the PA approach would likely be accepted by staff/students to support the development and progression of DH/DT students.