Dentists and their Willingness to Treat Adolescents with Learning Disabilities : a Survey of Accessibility in Primary Dental Care
type: CreativeWork
description: The aim of this study is to examine primary dental care practitioners’ willingness to treat adolescents with learning disability (LD) in two contrasting areas of Northern Ireland (NI) and Scotland using Cohen’s accessibility ‘dental health professional’factors (Cohen, 1987). A non-probability sample of all primary care dentists in the more urban EHSSB [NI] and remote and rural health board of NHS Highland (Scotland) (537) in both the Salaried Dental Services (SDS) and General Dental Services (GDS), were invited to take part in the survey. The main outcome measures were demographic profile, previous undergraduate and postgraduate experience, knowledge of LD and its’ management in the clinical setting, numbers of adolescents with LD treated, attitudes towards individuals LD and willingness to treat this patient group. The data was analysed by t-tests, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), factor analysis and pathway analysis. Three hundred SDS and GDS dentists completed the self-administered questionnaire. The valid response rate was 61%. There was no significant difference in numbers of adolescents with LD treated in the health boards examined in NI and Scotland. Willingness to treat adolescents with LD was positively associated with a social model perspective on disability. This in turn translated to the development of positive attitudes. Conversely, dentists who held a medical model of disability, were found to have more negative attitudes and were less willing to treat adolescents with LD. The acquisition of knowledge and increased level of undergraduate training in relation to LD and its’ management would appear to strengthen a social model perspective and hence promote positive attitudes and willingness to treat those adolescents with LD. Meanwhile, undergraduate training and knowledge pertaining to disability did not significantly contribute to dentists whose beliefs underpinned the medical model of disability. These findings were consistent for dentists working in two…
abstract: The aim of this study is to examine primary dental care practitioners’ willingness to treat adolescents with learning disability (LD) in two contrasting areas of Northern Ireland (NI) and Scotland using Cohen’s accessibility ‘dental health professional’factors (Cohen, 1987). A non-probability sample of all primary care dentists in the more urban EHSSB [NI] and remote and rural health board of NHS Highland (Scotland) (537) in both the Salaried Dental Services (SDS) and General Dental Services (GDS), were invited to take part in the survey. The main outcome measures were demographic profile, previous undergraduate and postgraduate experience, knowledge of LD and its’ management in the clinical setting, numbers of adolescents with LD treated, attitudes towards individuals LD and willingness to treat this patient group. The data was analysed by t-tests, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), factor analysis and pathway analysis. Three hundred SDS and GDS dentists completed the self-administered questionnaire. The valid response rate was 61%. There was no significant difference in numbers of adolescents with LD treated in the health boards examined in NI and Scotland. Willingness to treat adolescents with LD was positively associated with a social model perspective on disability. This in turn translated to the development of positive attitudes. Conversely, dentists who held a medical model of disability, were found to have more negative attitudes and were less willing to treat adolescents with LD. The acquisition of knowledge and increased level of undergraduate training in relation to LD and its’ management would appear to strengthen a social model perspective and hence promote positive attitudes and willingness to treat those adolescents with LD. Meanwhile, undergraduate training and knowledge pertaining to disability did not significantly contribute to dentists whose beliefs underpinned the medical model of disability. These findings were consistent for dentists working in two…
author: Coyle, Catherine
language: eng
date published: 2011
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:07:46Z
provider: University of Dundee
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Dundee