Student Potential for Self-assessment in a Clinical Dentistry Practical Training Course on Communication Skills

This study aimed to investigate student potential for self-assessment in a clinical dentistry practical training course focused on communication skills. Participants were 124 fourth-year students (70 males, 54 females; all Japanese) in 2017 and 2018 at the Nippon Dental University, School of Life Dentistry at Niigata. Participating students belonged to different cohorts in 2017 and 2018. Participants were asked to complete a self-evaluation sheet at the end of each unit of the course. Their self-evaluation scores and the faculty evaluation scores for each student for Units 1-1, 1-2, and 1-3 were statistically analyzed. The results showed that females tended to rate themselves significantly higher than males. Furthermore, there were significant differences in evaluation scores between students and faculty for nine of 11 evaluation items for male students and 10 of 11 items for female students in Unit 1-3. Faculty expectations increased from Unit 1-1 to Unit 1-3, although students were satisfied with their performance and had a sense of achievement. However, students’ actual performance was below faculty expectations, suggesting faculty evaluations were stricter than students’ self-evaluation. Self-assessment may enhance students’ ability for self-directed learning and may also inform how faculty can effectively educate dental students. Dental educators should support students to increase their levels of self-efficacy, which will enhance their self-evaluation skills.