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Published on: April 29, 2014
Impact of Evidence-Based Dentistry Education on Dental Students' Critical Appraisal Skills: A Prospective Cohort
Carlota Inês Duarte de Mendonça1,2,3,4, António Duarte Sola Pereira da Mata1,2,3,4,5, Bruno Filipe da Costa Rosa1,2,3
1Biology and Oral Biochemistry Group, Faculty of Dental Medicine, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
Objective:
This study aimed to assess the impact of evidence-based dentistry (EBD) education on the critical appraisal abilities of dental students.
Methods:
A prospective cohort study was conducted with students from the Faculty of Dental Medicine in Lisbon. After Local Ethics Committee approval and participants' informed consent, they completed the Cochrane Collaboration's Tool Assessment Risk of Bias 5.1.0 for two pre-selected articles, previously appraised by experts (reference answers). Questionnaires were administered at two time points, T0 (baseline) and T1 (post-training), with either 4.5 or 16 h of EBD instruction in between. Intra-student and inter-operator agreement were assessed using the Fleiss multirater kappa coefficient. Changes in the proportion of correct responses between T0 and T1 were evaluated using the McNemar-Bowker test, with significance set at p < 0.05.
Results:
Recruitment began in January 2022, and 81 students enrolled (13.6% male, 86.4% female; mean age 26.84 ± 6.51 years). Response rates were 100% at T0, and 97.53% (paper A) and 98.77% (paper B) at T1. The Fleiss multirater kappa coefficient indicated slight agreement between T0 and T1 responses, with increased inter-operator agreement following training. A statistically significant improvement in critical appraisal performance was observed post-training (McNemar-Bowker Test = 395.450, df = 6, p = 0.001). Subgroup analysis based on training duration and students' self-reported prior EBD education revealed no significant differences in outcomes.
Conclusions:
EBD education significantly improves the critical appraisal abilities of dental students, emphasising the positive impact of EBD training.
