Empowering dental students: A quasi-experimental study on disability awareness through the EQUALISED program

Area of Science:

• Dental Education
• Special Care Dentistry
• Health Equity

Background:

• Persons with disabilities (PWDs) encounter substantial barriers to accessing equitable dental care.
• Dentists often lack adequate training to address the specific needs of PWDs.
• The EQUALISED program was developed to enhance dental students' understanding and skills in providing care for PWDs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of the EQUALISED program on dental students' knowledge and awareness regarding the care of PWDs.
• To assess the effectiveness of interactive seminars, experiential learning, and reflective discussions in improving students' competency.
• To determine if the program contributes to the broader goals of health equity in dental care.

Main Methods:

• A quasi-experimental pretest-post-test design was employed.
• 86 fifth-year dental students participated in a 1-day EQUALISED program.
• Knowledge was assessed using a validated true/false quiz, and feedback was gathered via online questionnaires.

Main Results:

• The program led to significant improvements in students' post-test scores, with the failure rate dropping from 1.2% to 0%.
• The percentage of students achieving excellent scores increased dramatically from 34.1% to 90.6% (P < 0.001).
• Students provided positive feedback, highly valuing the experiential learning components involving PWDs.

Conclusions:

• The EQUALISED program effectively enhanced dental students' knowledge and awareness concerning PWDs.
• This training supports inclusive care objectives and aligns with health equity policies.
• Integrating such programs into dental curricula can mitigate oral health disparities and cultivate more empathetic dental professionals.