Investigating ethical skills in dentists and dental students: A comparative study

Abstract

Background: Commitment to professional ethics is important for all medical practitioners, including dentists. This skill should be taught to students during their studies. The present study aimed to investigate moral skills in dental students and dentists. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 160 dental students and dentists. The Moral Skills Inventory (MSI) was cross-culturally adapted and used in this research. The MSI was developed by Chambers and has 40 items covering 4 domains; moral sensitivity, moral reasoning, moral integrity, and moral courage. Each domain's scores range from zero to 20. The obtained results were analyzed using SPSS. Results: Compared to dentists, dental students achieved higher mean±SD scores in moral sensitivity (5.5±3.64 vs. 3.87±2.22) and moral integrity (6.4±3.2 vs. 5.78±2.72) domains. However, in moral reasoning, dentists obtained higher mean±SD scores than students (15.40±2.11 vs. 13.92±2.35). In the moral courage domain, students' and dentists' scores were 13.47±3.10 and 13.62±2.96, respectively. The total mean±SD score of moral skills in all domains was calculated as 39.3±4.50 for dental students, 38.68±4.48 for dentists, and 38.99±4.49 for all study participants. Conclusion: The professional ethics skills were relatively poor in all 4 domains among the explored dental students and dentists. Workshops, reviewing the syllables of the medical ethics course, and practicing moral skills during training courses and monitoring professional performance could help to improve moral skills in this population.