1. Participants
161 members of dental hygienist
associations in the U.S. Hygienists
from 10 states responding (Illinois,
New Jersey, Wyoming, Montana,
Colorado, Maine, Pennsylvania,
Texas, Washington and Kansas).
Brianna Parlette, Caroline Leibrecht, Clinical Psychology Associates of North Central Florida
University of Florida
Method
ResultsIntroduction
Conclusions
Results
Procedure
Participants received a link via their respective dental health
association liaison. All liaisons were on the board of their
respective state dental association. The majority posted the
link on their community Facebook group or via their
monthly association newsletter emails.
References
Stresses on Dental Hygienist Professionals
Figure 1.
Table 2.
Studies of occupational stress are an essential component of occupational
psychology; they provide a first step in mitigating the negative impact on
workers and productivity, and the factors which may reduce such stress. The
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2000) defines occupational
stress as harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the
requirement of the job does not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of
the worker. These stresses cause physical, psychological and emotional
stressors on our daily lives, and have negative impact on productivity, safety
and morale. Focus, precision, listening intently, and being on your feet for
hours, all which creates additional sources of stress. There have been very
limited studies regarding stresses of the dental medicine profession. Due to the
rigorous nature of dental medicine education programs, significant research
has been done on stress among dental students and suggestions for coping with
the stress of their studies, but little has been done on hygienists, specifically.
The medical field will always be in high demand with increasing stressors, it's
important that we address these issues for the largest of professions as well as
less mentioned but equally important job titles.
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The link took each participant to a welcome screen
containing five questions, some questions including multiple
parts. The participants spent a range of 3-41 minutes
answering the survey, with the average time being
approximately seven minutes to complete.
The surveys were completely anonymous, but IP address
procedures ensured no duplicates. The survey included both
open and closed-ended questions.
Overall, our data reported much of what we expected; time and issue patients
were reported very high among the respondents. In the open ended question
about stress, 33% of participants mentioned some type of patient giving
them high levels of stress. Specifically looking at the expected outcome of
“problem” patients and anxiety prone patients, they were specifically
mentioned 41% and 25% respectively in the question that asked to describe a
stressful situation. Time was also mentioned by 43% of respondents. The
results show that time and patients were key components of stress among
responders. Some issues that were brought up as stressors that were not
expected include pain (13%) and issues being under a head dentist (6%).
Table 1.
The most reported stressors for dental hygienists tend to be
issues with time, difficult patients and co-workers or bosses.
Further studies could look at the demographics of participants.
Additionally looking at the type of practice, job titles and practice
location.
Table 1 refers to the open-ended questions included in the survey
that asked about the most prevalent stressors hygienists face in the
workplace. Upon analyzing submitted responses, recurring themes
observed were incorporated into the above categories and
respective percentages were calculated once all answers were
accounted for.
Representation of the Likert scale portion of the survey. Participants answered closed-ended questions with five possible
answer choices ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Categories were fixed prior to sending out the survey.
Because difficult clientele and time restraints are prevalent
stressors, studies for optimal patient loads and coping with
uncooperative or sensitive patients are potential aids in overcoming
the psychological effects of such pressure in the workplace.
Table 2 displays the type of patient and his/her reaction
which dental hygienist professionals reported they
encounter during appointments.
Note: Patients with lower levels of cooperation during
appointments, as well as those with fear of/sensitivity to
procedures, forces hygienists to take more time
The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the most prevalent
stressors in the workplace of dental hygienists. Healthcare
professionals are expected to perform complex procedures with utmost
accuracy and efficiency on a daily basis. When dealing with high risk
patients especially, workers are even more prone to stress and burnout.
In order to ensure the continuation of optimal levels of efficiency and
productivity, it is of utmost importance to discern what is causing
stresses in these environments and how they can be improved or
avoided.Stress-Inducing Situations Types of Patients