The Pre and Final Year Dental Students’ Attitudes, Perception towards Postgraduate Specialization in Kinshasa University—Dental Medicine Department/DR. Congo

Abstract

The health professions are always affected by changes in the community, economics, religions, and politics. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence attitudes towards postgraduate specialization, and possible influencing factors for choosing specialties by the pre and final year students of Kinshasa University-Dental Medicine Department. A prospective survey of pre and final year dental students of Kinshasa University was carried out. Age, gender, nationality, and the occupation of parent’s variables were recorded. The questionnaire consisted of two sections; the first was regarding the students’ background and the second was their attitudes towards postgraduate specialization. The survey was conducted anonymously. Fisher exact test was used to analyze the differences in some variables and statistical significance was set at 5%. Results: Of the 106 students enrolled, 58.45% were males and 41.51% females. 81% responded to pursue a specialist career versus 15% who did not. The most popular first choices of specialty were Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (44.34%), followed by Public Health (18.87%). However, in the second choice of specialty, Public Heath was the first-choice career (23.58%) followed by Maxillofacial Surgery and Oral Surgery (19.81%) respectively. Oral and maxillofacial surgery was the first choice of specialty for males (37.74%) than for the females (6.60%), and the difference was statistically significant (p = 0.002). Conclusion: Most of the students had an intention to be a specialist, with a preference for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, and Public Health.