A multi-centre early evaluation of the effectiveness of workshop teaching to improve the confidence of UK and Irish dental students when addressing patient mental health

Background Dental practitioners can have low confidence when addressing patient mental health as part of wider patient management. This is increasingly relevant due to the rising prevalence of mental health conditions and the relationship that can exist between mental and oral health. Interactive workshop teaching on patient mental health may enhance the confidence of dental students when addressing mental health conditions in patients. This study trialled workshop teaching as an educational intervention in five UK and Irish dental schools. Methods A quantitative, scenario-based confidence survey to further establish the need for intervention, followed by delivery of a workshop intervention to volunteer participants. Pre- and post-workshop surveys were used to assess the effectiveness of the workshop. Results Survey data showed low confidence among dental students when addressing patient mental health. Workshop intervention improved dental student confidence on average from 2.3-3.7 on a five-point scale, with less than 0.5% likelihood that reported changes in confidence were due to chance. Discussion Low confidence of dental students addressing patient mental health scenarios echoed wider literature findings surrounding dental clinicians' ability to address patient mental health. This further demonstrated the need for educational intervention, with workshop effectiveness demonstrated within this paper. Conclusion Workshop teaching is an effective way to enhance dental student confidence when addressing patient mental health and should be considered for implementation in the Bachelor of Dental Surgery curriculum.
Key points Dental students across the UK and Ireland self-report low confidence when addressing patient mental health in the dental clinic, especially when addressing undiagnosed psychiatric conditions.Interactive workshop teaching is an effective method to significantly improve the confidence of dental students when addressing patient mental health.This study recommends the implementation of interactive workshop teaching within BDS curricula to ensure graduates can 'identify, explain and manage the impact of medical and psychological conditions', as recommended by the GDC.