Assessing dental students’ professional satisfaction with operative dentistry teaching and curriculum: A study in Saudi Arabia
Abstract Background Evaluating students’ professional satisfaction of operative dentistry teaching and curriculum can help in identifying their educational needs and improving the quality of the education imparted. This study aimed to assess the professional satisfaction derived by undergraduate dental students in Saudi Arabia from the operative dentistry course teaching and its curriculum.Methods A total of 193 (109 male 56.48%; and 84 female 43.52%) students participated in a survey. The respondents were at the 10th, 11th, and 12th levels of the operational dentistry course in a ratio of 34.2%, 32.1%, and 33.7%, respectively. Data were collected from survey items (18 questions) covering six areas: Learning Objectives, Course Materials, Content Relevance, Instructor knowledge, Instructor delivery and Style, and Facility and environment. Descriptive and analytical tests were performed using SPSS Software 19 with the significance level set at 0.05.Results A high level of satisfaction was seen among Level 10 (68.18%), Level 11 (79.03%), and Level 12 (86.15%) students. Significant statistical difference was observed among Level 10 students with a low-level of satisfaction and a high level of satisfaction (p<0.05). The percentage of satisfaction increased with the level. A high level of satisfaction was seen among both male (78.90%) and female (76.19%) students, with a total satisfaction level of 77.72%.Conclusion Continuous evaluation and assessment of teaching as well as curriculum can be a tool to improve the quality of education imparted, especially in clinical courses such as operative dentistry.