Patients' criteria for choosing a dentist: Comparison between a university-based setting and private dental practices.
dental care
dental patients
healthcare research
patient evaluation
patient perspective
selection criteria
Journal
Journal of oral rehabilitation
ISSN: 1365-2842
Titre abrégé: J Oral Rehabil
Pays: England
ID NLM: 0433604
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Aug 2020
Aug 2020
Historique:
received:
02
04
2020
revised:
01
05
2020
accepted:
11
05
2020
pubmed:
20
5
2020
medline:
22
7
2020
entrez:
20
5
2020
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Most clinical studies in dentistry are conducted in university-based settings. However, whether findings can be generalised to private dental practices is not clear. Aims of this study were to determine patients' criteria for choosing a dentist, and to assess whether criteria differ between patients in university dental clinic and private dental practices. In this cross-sectional study, a convenience sample of 300 subjects involving dental patients of a university dental clinic and private dental practices, and subjects from general population (each n = 100) were included. Criteria for choosing a dentist were assessed with a 31-item questionnaire, covering socio-demographic characteristics, qualifications, psychosocial skills, practice structure, practice offers and accessibility, with a 6-point ordinal rating scale ranging from "very crucial"-(5) to "not crucial at all"-(0). A total of 189 subjects (63%) provided completed questionnaires for analyses. Dentists' psychosocial skills (mean 4.4) were rated as most important when choosing a dentist, whereas socio-demographic characteristics were of almost no significance (mean 1.0). Significant differences between settings were observed only for practice offers and accessibility with highest ratings in university setting. However, after controlling for potential confounders, ratings differed only slightly and not statistically significantly. In conclusion, dentists' psychosocial skills appear to be most important criteria for choosing a dentist. Setting-related differences in criteria seem to be likely but obviously result from differences in socio-demographic characteristics.
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
1023-1030Informations de copyright
© 2020 The Authors. Journal of Oral Rehabilitation published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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