Dental students' satisfaction with their course and how it is associated to their satisfaction with life and career outlook.

Abstract

Identifying factors that influence the satisfaction of undergraduate dental students can contribute to establishing strategies for improving the educational process, furthering student development, and enhancing students' academic and professional achievements.

Aim: the present study investigated associations between undergraduate students' satisfaction with the dental course and their satisfaction with life, perception of professional career and sociodemographic factors.

Materials and method: this was a cross-sectional study on 512 dental students from a Brazilian School of Dentistry. Students were asked to respond to three questionnaires about sociodemographic characteristics, academic, and professional perceptions. Satisfaction with life was measured using the Brazilian version of the Satisfaction with Life Scale, which comprises five statements with responses scored on a seven-point Likert scale ranging from "I strongly disagree" to "I strongly agree". Unadjusted and adjusted multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to test associations between satisfaction with the dental course and key variables.

Results: most participants were female (73.2%), single (99.8%) and with mean age 21.77 (±2.71) years. Approximately three quarters had a family income over three times higher than the national monthly minimum wage. Higher satisfaction with the course was associated with more optimistic perception of the job market (OR=2.44; 95% CI: 1.36-4.40), better academic performance (OR=1.65; 95% CI: 1.00-2.74) and greater satisfaction with life (OR=1.10; 95% CI: 1.06-1.15). Students' sex and family income did not have significant impact on satisfaction with the dental course.

Conclusions: satisfaction with the dental course is related to an optimistic perception of the job market, academic performance and satisfaction with life.