The development of a professional role orientation inventory

Area of Science:

• Dental Professionalism
• Psychometrics
• Social Science in Dentistry

Background:

• Understanding dentists' professional role perceptions is crucial for education and practice.
• Existing literature presents various models of professionalism, but empirical assessment tools are limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the Professional Role Orientation Inventory (PROI).
• To assess dentists' perceptions of their professional role across four dimensions: Authority, Responsibility, Agency, and Autonomy.
• To explore differences in role orientation between dental professionals and students.

Main Methods:

• Development of a 40-item Likert-type instrument (PROI).
• The PROI comprises four 10-item scales measuring Authority, Responsibility, Agency, and Autonomy.
• Testing of the instrument with groups of dental professionals and students.

Main Results:

• The PROI effectively assesses dentists' perceptions of their professional role.
• Significant differences were observed in role conceptualizations among different professional and student groups.
• Practitioners' views on their professional role partially align with, yet diverge from, established professionalism models.

Conclusions:

• The PROI is a valuable tool for measuring dentists' professional role orientation.
• Dentists' perceptions of their professional roles are diverse and context-dependent.
• Further research can utilize the PROI to explore factors influencing professional identity in dentistry.