Students’ viewpoints on a community-based dental education course in an Iranian faculty of dentistry: A conventional content analysis study

Background: Community-based dental education helps nurture a generation of dentists who pay more attention to community needs. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the viewpoints of dental students about a community-based dentistry course conducted at the Dental School of the Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences in Sanandaj. Methods: In all, 36 senior dentistry students provided children aged 6 to 14 from an underprivileged background with care and preventive services under the indirect supervision of a dental instructor. At the end of the course in May 2018, individual and group interviews were conducted to obtain students’ viewpoints on the course. The collected data was categorized and analyzed using MAXQDA 10. Testing of acceptability, dependability, stability, verifiability, fittingness and transferability criteria were applied to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of the qualitative data. Results: The results were categorized into two main themes: weaknesses and strengths of the clinical experience. Four main categories of the course’s strengths were identified: personal development, deeper understanding of oral health in the community, becoming familiar with executive and managerial systems, and payment and financial issues. Three main categories of the course’s weaknesses were identified: executive problems, issues around coordination and planning, and limiting coverage of the dental services provided to Levels I and II. Conclusion: The most important aspects of these courses from the students’ viewpoints were providing the opportunity to individual and professional development and gaining a broader perspective on preventive dentistry.