Evaluation agreement between peer assessors, supervisors, and parents in assessing communication and interpersonal skills of students of pediatric dentistry

Abstract

Purpose

Clear and effective communication is crucial for pediatric dentistry practitioners. This study aimed to assess whether evaluations of the communication skills of dental students by supervising physicians, paired students, and patients' parents aligned with the students’ self-evaluations.

Methods

This study was conducted between April and December 2018 at the University Hospital Pediatric Dentistry Outpatient Department. The subjects were 58 pediatric dentistry students (45 male and 13 female students), who were evaluated by their supervising physicians, colleagues, parents, as well as themselves using a questionnaire. The data were analyzed by weighted kappa analysis using SPSS version 27.0 software.

Results

Most supervising physicians, colleagues, and parents rated parameters, such as volume of voice during explanation, explanation of cleaning conditions, and explanation of cleaning equipment as excellent or good. However, many students self-assessed these parameters as below-average. Regarding the consistency between self- and others’ evaluations, only “explanation on snacking, eating or drinking was easy to understand” was generally consistent with the evaluations of supervising physicians.

Conclusions

The study's findings highlighted the importance of reflecting the gap between one's own assessment and that of other evaluators, which would help in the practice or professional decision making of dental students.