Assessing Changes in Attitudes Toward Collaborative Practice Among Dental Hygiene Students: A quasi-experimental...

Purpose Interprofessional education is an essential component of dental hygiene education; however, limited research has examined the impact of hospital-based interprofessional experiences across stages of training. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a hospital rotation on dental hygiene students' perceptions of collaborative practice, including teamwork, roles and responsibilities, and patient-centered care.Methods A quasi-experimental pre-post design study was conducted using a nonprobability convenience sample of first- and second-year dental hygiene students enrolled in a single program. First-year students had no exposure to the hospital rotation, whereas second-year students had completed an interprofessional hospital-based rotation. Data were collected at baseline (beginning of the academic year) and post-intervention (end of the academic year) using the validated Student Perception Interprofessional Clinical Education Instrument (SPICE-R2). Descriptive statistics were calculated, and inferential analyses included independent-samples t-tests and a two-way mixed analysis of variance. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.Results At baseline, second-year participants reported significantly higher perceptions related to role clarity, understanding of other health professionals' training requirements, patient satisfaction, and health care cost reduction. Post-intervention comparisons demonstrated fewer group differences; however, second-year students continued to report significantly greater understanding of professional roles and stronger perceptions of patient-centered collaborative care. No significant differences were observed for perceptions related to teamwork ability.Conclusion Interprofessional hospital-based rotations may enhance dental hygiene students' understanding of professional roles and patient-centered collaborative practice. These findings support the integration of structured interprofessional clinical experiences within dental hygiene curricula to promote competency development aligned with accreditation standards and prepare graduates for collaborative practice.