Sequential Exploration Unearths Social Media to Influence the Persona of Practicing Pediatric Dentists

The pediatric dentist's personality is subject to change owing to cultural, social, and technological changes. To achieve a successful treatment delivery, it is crucial to understand which aspect of a pedodontist's personality influences their clinical practice.

This study aimed to explore the most influential factor that affects a pediatric dentist's personality. Methodology: This study used the mixed-methods sequential exploration technique. The qualitative phase included a semistructured interview (n=13) based on the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) and Capability-Opportunity-Motivation-Behavior (COM-B) model. Weightage analysis identified social media as the most common theme among the responses. A quantitative phase then followed wherein responses from a validated questionnaire (n=343) based on the technology acceptance model tested whether social media influenced a pediatric dentist's personality.

The inter-rater reliability using Krippendorff's Alpha in the qualitative phase was 0.82, indicating a strong agreement for theme identification (social media). The responses were grouped based on the participants' age: Group I (n=64; age <30 years), Group II (n=186; age 31-50), Group III (n=93; age >51 years). Intergroup comparison using the Kruskal-Wallis test showed statistically significant differences across questions related to perceived usefulness (n=3), perceived ease of use (n=3), attitude towards use (n=2), behavioral intention to use (n=1), and actual use (n=2). Post hoc analysis, conducted using Mann-Whitney U-tests, revealed significant variations in responses between Group 1 & Group 2, and between Group 1 & Group 3.

Across various age groups, social media does influence a pediatric dentist's personality and is a key aspect of E-Professionalism.