Five-Year Evaluation of Students' Profiles and Professional Perspectives in an Innovative Dental Education Modality:...

This study explored the effects of a novel dental education modality (evening enrolment) on the graduating dental students' profiles within a public university setting, encompassing both their curricular experiences and professional perspectives.

This cross-sectional observational study was conducted with dental students (daytime and evening enrolment modalities) who graduated between 2018 and 2022. It employed a semi-structured, non-identified, pretested research instrument examining sociodemographic-family profiles, experiences in teaching-community-research activities and professional perspectives. A mixed-method approach was employed, adopting the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty as its theoretical framework and employing multivariable logistic regression for quantitative analysis.

A total of 205 students participated. Overall, the majority were females, single, childless and state natives. Daytime students were younger (47.7% aged 21-24 years) than evening peers (84.8% aged ≥ 25 years) (p = 0.00). Daytime students had higher parental education and workforce engagement, whereas evening students were more likely to have mothers with lower education levels (OR = 4.72; 95% CI: 1.33-16.74) and not in the workforce (OR = 3.78; 95% CI: 1.46-9.76). Daytime students participated more in elective service-learning activities (p = 0.00). Qualitative analysis revealed challenges in the high mandatory curricular workload, limited promotion of teaching-community-research activities, slot availability and difficulty balancing work and study. Students from both modalities expressed intentions for diverse professional affiliations and postgraduate career advancement.

This study underscores the alignment in sociodemographic profiles and professional perspectives between daytime and evening education modalities. However, disparities in age, parental workforce engagement, family income and elective service-learning activities necessitate tailored strategies for optimised educational training. These insights contribute to enhancing access and retention of dental students in low- and middle-income countries.