Self-Perceived Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic by Dental Students in Bucharest

Laura Iosif, Ana Maria Cristina Ţâncu, Andreea Cristiana Didilescu, Marina Imre, Bogdan Mihai Gălbinașu and Radu Ilinca
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Laura Iosif: Department of Complete Denture, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 17–21 Calea Plevnei Street, Sector 1, 010221 Bucharest, Romania
Ana Maria Cristina Ţâncu: Department of Complete Denture, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 17–21 Calea Plevnei Street, Sector 1, 010221 Bucharest, Romania
Andreea Cristiana Didilescu: Department of Embryology, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 17–21 Calea Plevnei Street, Sector 1, 010221 Bucharest, Romania
Marina Imre: Department of Complete Denture, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 17–21 Calea Plevnei Street, Sector 1, 010221 Bucharest, Romania
Bogdan Mihai Gălbinașu: Department of Dental Prosthesis Technology and Dental Materials, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 17–21 Calea Plevnei Street, Sector 1, 010221 Bucharest, Romania
Radu Ilinca: Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 17–21 Calea Plevnei Street, Sector 1, 010221 Bucharest, Romania

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 10, 1-16

Abstract: All social and economic systems worldwide, including the educational one have been disrupted by escalating the global COVID-19 pandemic. One of the most impacted areas were the medical and dental education fields, due to the forced break from clinical practice during the lockdown, which affected both the educational part, as well as the patients. Thus, the main goal of our research was to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the dental students’ education as related to their perceptions and evaluations, in Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 878 dental students who reported their perception of the psychological and educational impact of this period by completing a Google Forms questionnaire. Collected data were statistically analyzed using Stata/IC 16. There was a severe psychological impact among the respondents, the levels of stress being perceived as high and very high (33.83%, n = 297; 28.59%, n = 251), similar to high and very high anxiety feelings (26.54%, n = 233; 24.26%, n = 213). Very high educational impact from the point of view of the acquisition of practical skills (48.52%, n = 426) and future professional perspectives (38.95%, n = 342) were recorded. While online theoretical learning ability was principally low (37.93%, n = 333) despite consistently modified time allocated to the individual study (44.35%, n = 389), most of the students evaluated the efficiency of lecturers in online courses as neutral (41.12%, n = 361). New dentistry teaching programs will have to be adopted taking into account the dynamics of the pandemic and its strong impact on our students, in order to improve both their wellbeing and the sustainability of dental education.

Keywords: dental education; COVID-19 pandemic; student perception; psychological impact; educational impact; online learning; student wellbeing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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