Cross-cultural competency adaptability of dental hygiene educators in entry Level dental hygiene programs.

Abstract

This study was conducted to discover the extent dental hygiene educators in 25 entry-level dental hygiene programs from the Upper Midwest demonstrate Emotional Resilience, Flexibility and Openness, Perceptual Acuity, and Personal Autonomy as they relate to their level of education and multicultural experiences. An additional purpose was to examine dental hygiene educators in regard to personal cross-cultural experiences, formal cultural diversity education, usefulness of their education and preparation, and confidence to meet the Commission on Dental Accreditation (2007) Standard 2-19 which states Graduates must be competent in interpersonal and communication skills to effectively interact with diverse population groups (p. 23). The principal investigator mailed two questionnaires in Fall Semester 2008 to the directors of the dental hygiene programs to administer. The researcher-developed a 22 item questionnaire collected demographic and cultural experience information on the faculty. The second questionnaire was the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI) by Kelley and Meyers (1992) that measured four research-based dimensions of cultural adaptability. The data analysis included descriptive and inferential statistics. Using Cronbach’s alpha, reliability analysis of the four CCAI scales showed that some items reduced the internal consistency of the scales. These items were removed from the scales. The inferential statistics used oneway analyses of variance (ANOVA) with the revised CCAI scales as dependent variables. The significance level was .05 for all inferential statistics. Statistically significant results were reported. The respondents were overwhelmingly female, Caucasian, equally split between having a BA or MA as the highest terminal degree, began teaching as a second career after a significant period as a dental hygienist in clinical practice, and had taught predominantly in a single institution. Dental hygiene educators had limited experience in cross-cultural settings in their personal lives, limited formal multicultural education preparation, limited personal multicultural experiences during their education, and limited experiences teaching in multicultural settings. The majority of the dental hygiene educators reported that their institution or department provided continuing education and professional development programs in cultural diversity. Overall, dental hygiene faculty who did participate in cultural diversity education had significantly higher scores on Emotional Resilience, Flexibility and Openness, Perceptual Acuity, and Personal Autonomy with Flexibility and Openness having the highest scores. This research concludes that there is a need to identify cultural diversity education curriculum guidelines that would increase the knowledge and understanding of minority and new immigrant populations; to develop oral health textbooks that address the ethnic and immigrant populations’ specific health beliefs or cultural views based on family structure, religion, and medical beliefs; and to support dental hygiene educators’ multicultural experiences to prepare future practitioners to provide crossculturally sensitive health care.