• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.108-115
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of dental hygienist images and career advice among high school teachers. A self-reported questionnaire was administered to 212 high school teachers in Gwangju, South Korea. The questionnaire contained subject's general characteristics, images of dental hygienists, and career advice. We performed an independent t-test, the Kruskal-Wallis test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, multiple regression analysis, and logistic regression analysis using the IBM SPSS ver. 21.0 software. Using a five-point scale, the average of all the dental hygienist images was 3.50, with personal images receiving the most positive rating at 3.83 and social images receiving the least positive rating at 2.86. The images of dental hygienists were significantly more positive in instances where the subjects recognized the dental hygienist or received treatment within one year. There were positive correlations among different kinds of images. Through multiple regression analysis, occupational images were associated with business and social images. Business images were associated with occupational and personal images. Personal images were associated with business images, especially in cases where the subjects recognized the dental hygienist. Social images were associated with occupational images, especially in cases where subjects received treatment within one year. Through logistic regression analysis, career advice was associated with social and occupational images. Therefore, our study provides suggestions on how to enhance positive recognition of social images of dental hygienists.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.519-527
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• 2023

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the awareness of students majoring in dental hygiene regarding the advanced dental hygiene system for the elderly and people with disabilities. Methods: From September 25 to October 20, 2023, an online survey was conducted with junior and senior students in 27 universities, including eight in the Seoul area, seven in the Chungcheong area, eight in the Yeongnam area, and four in the Honam area. Data analysis methods included frequency analysis, independent t-test, and one-way ANOVA. Results: After graduation, 72.9% of students were willing to work as advanced dental hygienists for the elderly and people with disabilities, and had greater recognition of the system (p=0.042), role (p<0.001), and expected effect (p=0.027) of an advanced dental hygienist than students who were not willing to work in this capacity. Conclusions: It is necessary to introduce a system that recognizes advanced dental hygienists for their expertise in oral hygiene management for the elderly and people with disabilities.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.409-423
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• 2019

The purposes of this study was to confirm the current issues of workforce policy of dental auxiliary personnel in Korea. The literature review and data collection were conducted in terms of the auxiliary personnel supply, regional distribution, legal works, working environment. Despite the rapid increase in the number of dental hygienists, the number of active dental hygienists is less than half of the total, and the dental clinics still experience the shortage. Considering the dental hygienist's work, the available dental auxiliary personnel for the dental assistance is limited. The proportion of dental hygienists is concentrated in large cities, and the ratio of dental clinics composed of only dental hygienists is high. Thus, it is essential to look for a plan to solve the disparity. The criterion for judging the legality of the works is ambiguous because a large portion of dental hygienist's work is not specified in the Medical Technicians Act. The job life is also shortened, and occupational profession and satisfaction are lowered. Thus, job burnout is accelerating. The difference between the legal works and the practiced works of dental hygienist and the conflict between the personnel might be due to the lack of utilization plans for the dental personnel at the government level. Therefore, the government should establish the roles of dental hygienist in accordance with the demands of the dental health service, institutionalize the necessary policies accordingly, and make efforts to establish plans to improve the relevant laws and utilize the manpower appropriately.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Esthetic Dentistry
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.116-126
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• 2019

Objectives: Currently, oral health of the disabled is taken care of by the social workers, not by dental hygienists, who are the oral health professional in this area. Therefore, we aim to enhance the equity of oral health for the disabled by providing the correct oral health care method to social workers residing in the welfare facility for the disabled. Methods: Four dental hygienists and four social workers were given the class I intellectual disabilities living in 'o' welfare facilities for disabled people in Songpa-gu, Seoul from April 13, 2019 to April 20, 2019. Patient Hygiene Performance(PHP) Index were measured and compared. In advance, the social workers were taught brushing (Rolling method), and the method of brushing and measuring tools were integrated. Results: Twice a total of dental hygienists and social workers practiced toothbrushing(Rolling method) for the class I intellectual disabilities who is a person to be brushed. When comparing the Patient Hygiene Performance(PHP) Index after the second round, the result shows that both the first and second dental hygienists' Patient Hygiene Performance(PHP) Index is lower. Conclusions: Comparing oral health knowledge level and Patient Hygiene Performance(PHP) index of dental hygienist and social workers, the result shows that dental hygienist has higher oral health care ability. Therefore, the dental hygienist should be placed in welfare facility for the disabled as an expert in oral health management to create an environment in which the disabled and social workers can be trained. In addition, the curriculum of the college that nurtures the dental hygienists should have a course to understand the characteristics of the disabled person in order to enhance the professionalism of dental hygienists.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.392-403
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• 2012

This study aims at providing the basic data to help establish the right identity of dental hygienist and develop the work of dental hygienists, and thereby investigating the effect of patients' perception of dental hygienist on their social demand of dental hygienist, by conducting a survey of 300 patients visiting dentists around Busan-Gyeongnam region from April 7, 2012 to April 25, 2012. The collected data is statistically analyzed by SPSS (Statistical Packages for Social Science 14.0. SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). First, I analyzed the frequency by suggesting the demographic and descriptive characteristics of data, and conducted t-test and One-Way ANOVA at 5% of significance level to figure out the degree of perception and social demand of dental hygienists depending on customers' reason for visiting dentists, and also conducted regression analysis to find the effect of the perception of dental hygienist on patient's social demand of dental hygienist. The result suggests that as the perception of the dental hygienists' role, the social demand for dental hygienists' image increases, but as perception of dental hygienists' image increases, the social demand of dental hygienists' image decreases. Therefore, it suggests that as the knowledge about dental hygienists increases, patients demand their service more, while the perception of their image lowers the social demand for their image. It turns out that as the knowledge of dental hygienists increase, the social demand for the knowledge also increases.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.71-77
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to examine the knowledge of dental hygienists about the elderly and their attitude toward them as dental hygienists played vital roles in oral health care for elderly patients. It's ultimately meant to help improve their right understanding of the elderly to provide quality oral health care service to the elderly population in preparation for an aging society. The subjects in this study were 241 dental hygienists, on whom a self-administered survey was implemented. After the collected data were analyzed, the following findings were given: They got a mean of $12.40{\pm}2.99$ out of possible 22 points on knowledge of the elderly. Their general characteristics and characteristics related to the elderly made no statistically significant differences to their knowledge. As for attitude toward the elderly, they got a mean of $3.13{\pm}0.28$. Concerning links between their general characteristics and attitude toward the elderly, the better-educated dental hygienists took a more favorable attitude to the elderly.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.516-522
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of dental hygienists' perceptions of dental organizational culture and professional identity on organizational commitment. A survey was conducted with 310 dental hygienists working in dental hospitals and dental offices. If dental hygienists experience organizational cultures as having different degrees of organizational commitment, then the type of organizational culture and commitment may be important variables in understanding and reducing the turnover rate of dental hygienists and improving workplace performance. Efforts to form a healthy and positive organizational culture may therefore be necessary. The organizational culture most recognized by the dental hygienist was hierarchical culture (3.39) and the least recognized was task-orientated culture (2.71). The professional identity of the dental hygienist was 3.75 and the organizational commitment was 2.98. Correlation analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between dental organization culture type, professional dental hygienist identity, and organizational commitment. As a result, professional identity and organizational commitment showed positive(+) correlation with innovation oriented culture and relationship oriented culture. Among the organizational culture types, relationship-orientated culture (p<0.001) and innovation-orientated culture (p=0.006) were significant influences on organizational commitment, and professional identity did not have a significant influence. The regression model was found to be statistically appropriate (F=11.857, p<0.001) and the model explaining power was 14.9%. These results suggest that efforts to create a relationship-orientated culture and an innovation-orientated culture and to reduce the hierarchical culture can be a strategy to enhance the organizational commitment and the professional identity of dental hygienists.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.157-167
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors affecting job satisfaction in dental hygienists with and without schoolwork, who form professional manpower in dental clinics, and provide basic data that could help develop detailed plans for reducing the turnover intention and improving job satisfaction. For data collection, convenience sampling was performed among clinical dental hygienists at dental clinics in Daejeon and Chungcheong and Gyeongsang Provinces from July 20 to September 20, 2019, and a self-administered questionnaire was used and the data were analyzed by T-test, One-way Anova, Pearson correlation, Stepwise multiple regression analysis, etc. using IBM SPSS/WIN 20.0. For the dental hygienists with schoolwork, job stress was negatively correlated with professional self-concept and job satisfaction, and professional self-concept was positively correlated with job satisfaction; for the dental hygienists without schoolwork, job stress was negatively correlated with professional self-concept and job satisfaction, and professional self-concept was positively correlated with job satisfaction. The factors affecting job satisfaction were professional self-concept, job stress, and age of ≥30 for the dental hygienists with schoolwork and professional self-concept, job stress, and the position as a middle manager for those without schoolwork. To put these results together, professional self-concept and job stress were factors affecting job satisfaction for dental hygienists with and without schoolwork. It is necessary to focus on the formation of good dental organizational culture through positive institutional support as well as through systematic establishment of professional self-concept.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.573-581
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to examine the professionalism of dental hygienists in dental institutions and the influential factors for their professionalism in an attempt to seek ways of enhancing the professionalism of dental hygienists. The subjects in this study were 172 dental hygienists who worked in dental institutions in Busan and Gimhae. A self-administered survey was conducted to gather data, and an experimental analysis was carried out to analyze the collected data. The major findings of the study were as follows: First, concerning professionalism, self-regulation belief(3.70) ranked highest(3.42), followed by service belief(3.65), autonomy belief(3.31), a sense of vocational calling(3.30) and utilization of the professional organization as a standard(3.12). Second, the professionalism of the dental hygienists was significantly better when their title was higher, when they were older, when they got a larger monthly pay and when they intended to work for a longer time. Third, as for the influential factors for their professionalism, age, marital status, the estimated term of working at the workplace and opinion on reemployment were also identified as the significant variables that were up to the standard level of significance(p=0.05). The findings of the study suggest that in order to boost the professionalism of dental hygienists, it's required to take institutional measures to give them more responsibility, autonomy and authority, and how to improve personnel administration by providing strong motivation for them to look at their workplaces more favorably and keep on working for a long time should discreetly be considered.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.53 no.10
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• pp.678-687
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• 2015

In order to prevent aspiration pneumonia, oral hygiene care is important; thus proper tips for oral hygiene care should be distributed among hospitals and care facilities for elderly. Malpractice of oral hygiene itself may cause aspiration pneumonia. For efficient and effective oral hygiene care, engagement of professionals such as dentists or dental hygienists is essential. At the point where necessity of systemized dental $professionals^{\circ}{\phi}$ involvement at care facilities for elderly is being emerged, it is important to determine less risky approaches for oral health care tailored to elderly. Among many approaches, oral health care practice without usage of water is considered safe, reducing risk of possibility of aspiration. Since this practice is quite easy to implement, many dental professionals may utilize it when practiced at care facilities for elderly.