Abstract
Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the adaptation to college life of dental hygiene students. Methods: A total of 300 students in the 3-year course, and 200 students in the 4-year course at the Department of Dental Hygiene, were selected. A self-reported questionnaire was used between 27th June and 31st August 2017. From this, 439 questionnaires were collected and analyzed. Results: 1. The overall degree of adaptation to college life, according to varied general characteristics of the subject students, appeared to show that male students had a higher degree of adaptation than female students. It also appeared to be higher in students that had a higher level of academic accomplishment(<0.001). 2. The average score of the degree of adaptation to college life was 2.57 points(full score of 4.00 points). Social adaption had the highest score of 2.92 points, while academic adaptation had the lowest score of 2.37 points. Regarding the subordinate domains of adaptation to college life, the average score of attachment adaptation of students in the 3-year course of the Department of Dental Hygiene(2.69 points) appeared to be higher than that of students in the 4-year course(2.52 points). The difference between these scores was statistically significant(p=0.001). 3. The effects of varied academic systems upon the degree of adaptation to college life were also analyzed. Emotional and attachment adaptation to college, as well as the academic accomplishment of students in the 3-year course, was distributed over a range of 3.0~3.5. This was significantly different compared to students in the 4-year course(p<0.05). Conclusion: It is necessary to develop stepwise and continuous educational programs to enable better college life adaptation for students in the Department of Dental Hygiene.
