Investigating the Knowledge of General Dental Students and Residents Regarding Practical Self-Assessment Skills

Background: Self-assessment (SA) means assessing or judging efficiency, and identifying strengths and weaknesses to improve learning outcomes.Objectives: The present study aims to investigate the knowledge, and attitude of the students of Kerman Dental Faculty regarding practical self-assessment skills.Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study included ۲۲۰ residents, and general students of Kerman Faculty of Dentistry. Data was collected using a questionnaire consisting of two parts. In the first part, the demographic information was recorded. The second part questioned students' knowledge and attitude toward practical self-assessment skills. The intra-class coefficient and content validity index of the questionnaire were ۰.۷۲ and ۰.۸۳, respectively. Data were analyzed using a T-test, analysis of variance, and multivariate regression in SPSS ۲۱ software. P-value<۰.۰۵ was considered as the statistical significance level.Results: The results indicated that the average score of questionnaire was ۴۴.۴۵ ± ۶.۵۸ for women and ۴۲.۶۰ ± ۵ for men, which was significantly higher in the female students (P-value=۰.۰۲). Moreover, the average score of residents was ۴۶.۴±۶.۲۱, considerably higher than general students (۴۲.۹۹ ± ۵.۸۰) (P value = ۰.۰۱). Finally, the average score of students at public colleges was equal to ۴۴.۴۸ ± ۶.۱۰, higher than that to those studying at private colleges (۴۱.۵۶ ± ۵.۳۵) (P-value = ۰.۰۱), which shows better self-assessment skills.Conclusion: The study highlights the critical role of self-assessment skills to improve the dental students learning ability, performance, and independency. Moreover, it is recommended that regular self-assessment skills be considered significantly in dentistry curricula.

Keywords:

Self-Assessment Skills , Practical Self-Assessment , Dental students