Does Presence of role Models at Undergraduate Training Level Impact the Choice of Specialization as Maxillofacial Surgery for Young Women Dental Graduates?: Qualitative Study and Review Of Literature

INTRODUCTION: Even though dentistry is becoming a women-dominated profession, this is not translating into the choosing oral and maxillofacial surgery as a specialization. Hence, this study was undertaken to analyse factors impacting the choice of specialization and what impact does presence of role models as an intervention have on the attitudes of these young women on their overall career choice decisions. PURPOSE: This qualitative study was undertaken with the aim of understanding and analyzing the impact of role models on the overall shift in attitude of young women graduate students towards oral and maxillofacial surgery as a specialty. METHODS: Eleven women maxillofacial faculties from all over the country participated in this study conducted during the 2020 Pandemic. In this study, through the online teaching programme, the influence of women teaching faculties in the form of role models was statistically analysed on 103 attendees out of 140 who answered the survey questionnaire. The sessions were conducted on Zoom platform in the form of lectures of graduate course topics as defined by Dental Council of India. The overall attitudinal shift was then statistically analysed through Chi-square test. RESULT: Out of 140 students, 103 students responded to the survey questionnaire. Responses of these students were statistically analysed with Chi-square test. The p value <.05 confirmed the hypothesis that presence of role models does have an impact on the choice of specialization. CONCLUSION: The sample size of this was small and the period of follow-up was short, four months. In order to validate these results, larger cohort and longitudinal studies of long follow-up are needed. In spite of these drawbacks, the results of this study highlight, with the help of the literature, the important role a woman mentor positively plays in career choice and other aspects of women surgeon’s professional life.