Objective: The shortage of health care professionals in rural areas contributes toward discriminatory health care delivery. The present study was planned with a similar intent and aimed to evaluate the perception of dental students regarding their future in rural areas.
Materials and methods: The present study was designed as a cross-sectional study comprising of a 30-item questionnaire survey instrument distributed among a total of 550 dental students while the results obtained were subjected to statistical analysis. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 12.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Independent student's t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for comparison among the variables while the Chi-square test was used to determine the association between the variables. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: No significant difference was observed in the attitude based on gender (P = 0.43), although, a statistically significant difference was observed in the attitude of students based on the year of their education with a positive attitude toward rural dental practice generally noted in the first year Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) students which significantly declined with the increasing level of education (P = 0.01).
Conclusions: Dental students were more influenced by the negative aspects of rural dental practice though they had, in their mind, a positive approach for the same at the beginning of their education, but this significantly declined with the increasing level of their education.
Keywords: Career and educational advancement; census; dental health care crisis; dental health care professionals; dental health care services; discriminatory health care delivery; employment prospects; health care community; rural areas.
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