Relationship between career education experience among final‐year dental hygiene students and their perspective towards work and profession: A nationwide survey in dental hygiene schools of Japan

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to clarify the relationship between the experience of receiving career education among final‐year dental hygiene students and their views regarding their work and profession, as part of research on the working style of dental hygienists. METHODS: An anonymous, self‐administered survey was sent by post to all the 162 dental hygienist schools in Japan with dental hygiene students in their final year in November 2019. The main questions were regarding student attributes, career aspirations, their perspective on work and profession and whether or not they received career education at a dental hygienist training school. Analysis was conducted by cross‐tabulation and logistic regression. RESULTS: Completed questionnaires were sent to us by 150 schools (response rate 92.6%), with a response from 6,270 students. The students who had received career education had significantly higher awareness and plans for the profession and a positive attitude towards the work (p < 0.01). Following adjustment for age, sex, educational attainment, length of the course of study and timing of class the results shows that there was a significant relation between the experience of the career education with having future plans (odds ratio = 2.11, 95% confidence interval = 1.88–2.38, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: It was observed that the experience of receiving career education just before graduating from dental hygienist school was related to an increased positive attitude of the students towards their work and profession. Further long‐term investigations are necessary to evaluate the effects of career education among dental hygiene students and their attitude towards their profession.