Perceptions of the dental hygiene profession

This study was conducted to measure dental hygiene students' and instructors' perceptions of the dental hygiene profession. The Dental Hygiene Profession Attitude Inventory (DHPAI) was developed by the researcher to measure the perceptions over a four month time span utilizing a pretest-posttest survey design. Results indicated that there was a significant difference in perceptions of the dental hygiene profession between instructors and students, and that the perceptions tended to become more negative as the educational level of the subjects increased. The instructor group had the least positive perception scores while the first year student had the most positive perception scores. Significant changes in perception scores over time were noted for the second year student group and the instructor group. There were no statistically significant changes in perception scores of the first year group, over time.