School of Dentistry New Release

Kanjirath and Anderson win ADEA Awards

Dr. Preetha Kanjirath

Dr. Preetha Kanjirath was recognized by the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) with an Outstanding Manuscript Award for her contribution to the Journal of Dental Education (JDE). The award was presented at Opening Ceremony of the association’s 85th Annual Session and Exhibition in Dallas, Texas.

Kanjirath’s manuscript “Treating Patients with Herpes Simplex Virus Infections: Dental and Dental Hygiene Students’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Professional Behavior” was published in the September 2007 issue of the JDE with coauthors, Mathilde Peters and Marita Inglehart. Kanjirath is Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine.

The JDE is a distinguished monthly journal published by ADEA. Internationally recognized as the premier journal for academic dentistry, it provides coverage of a wide variety of scientific and educational research in dental and allied dental education.

VIEW MANUSCRIPT

Ms. Joan Anderson

Ms. Joan Anderson, a D4 student, was recognized by ADEA for her outstanding poster in the ADEA Student Poster Award competition for her project “LGBT Issues in Dental School Environments: Student Leaders’ Perceptions of Educational Efforts and Climate”. Anderson and coauthors, April Patterson, Henry Temple, Patricia Anderson, and Marita R. Inglehart, collected data from 113 student leaders in 30 US and Canadian dental schools to learn how their dental education prepared them to treat patients from non-heterosexual backgrounds. There were 19 student presenters with three winners awarded $500 each.

VIEW ABSTRACT

LGBT Issues in Dental School Environments: “Student Leaders’ Perceptions of Educational Efforts and Climate”

Joan I. Anderson, April Patterson, Henry Temple, Patricia Anderson, and Marita R. Inglehart, University of Michigan

Purpose: The objectives of this educational research project were to assess dental student leaders’ perceptions of a) the educational efforts concerning lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transexual (LGBT) topics, and b) the climate concerning LGBT issues in dental schools in the United States. In addition, it was explored how the degree to which these issues are covered in the dental curriculum affects the perceptions of the climate.

Abstract: Data were collected from sixty-six dental student leaders from fifteen dental schools in the United States and one from Canada. Approximately half of the students were female (N=32). All but one were in their second to fourth years of dental school. Only 33.8 percent of the students agreed that their dental education prepared them well to treat patients from non-heterosexual backgrounds. However, 60.4 percent agreed that their dental school administration creates a positive environment for students with non-heterosexual orientations. The more the students felt well prepared by their dental education to treat patients from LGBT backgrounds, the more they believed that their university has an honest interest in diversity (r=.25; p<.05) and the more they perceived the dental clinic environment as sensitive and affirming for patients with different sexual orientations (r=.32; p=.01). The more the dental school’s administration creates a positive environment for students with non-heterosexual orientations, the more the students agreed that persons can feel comfortable regardless of their sexual orientation (r=.38; p=.002). The five students who self-identified as having non-heterosexual orientations differed significantly from the other students in their perceptions of the dental school climate.

Conclusion: The results showed that the curricula in many dental schools need to include more material about how to provide optimal care for patients with different sexual orientations. The perceptions that dental school administrators created a positive environment correlated significantly with the degree of perceived equality in the educational and clinic environments in these schools.

###