Title : Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic Psychological behavior of Dental Aassistants in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-sectional Survey 
Authors :Sunil Babu Kotha,Sara Khalid AlAwad,Raghd Abdullah Albarrak,
                 Reema Abdullah Alzahrani, Alanoud Fahad Binmeqren,Sree Lalita Kotha
institution: 

¹Preventive Dentistry Department, Pediatric Dentistry Division, College of Dentistry, Riyadh Elm University (REU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
²Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Sharad Pawar Dental College and Hospital, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences (Deemed to be University), Wardha, India
³College of Dentistry, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
⁴Department of Basic Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract :

Background: As per the various guidelines, dentists and dental auxiliaries are considered at high risk for the spread of COVID-19 as they directly come in contact with the patient's oral cavity. So, during the pandemic, their stress level of getting contaminated with the virus was high. Hence, the present research aimed to estimate the psychological impact of COVID-19 on dental assistants in Saudi Arabia during this pandemic.

 Methodology: This questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was carried out on the dental assistants during the Covid-19 pandemic through a pre-validated Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale with 21 Items (DASS-21) to assess the psychological impact on their mental health. The questionnaires were sent to the participants through the mail using Google Forms. One reminder e-mail was sent after a week to fill and submit the form. Data were entered into Microsoft excel and later analyzed by SPSS software.

 Results: The response rate of the dental assistant was 75% (210 responded out of 280). Most of the dental assistants were 20-40 years old, and only ten were above 50. Most participants were females (180) and were of non-Saudi origin. In a comparison of DAS scores between males and females, the results were statistically significant (p value= 0.001); a higher mean total DAS score was noted in males (20.03) when compared to females (13.68).

 Conclusion: HCWs in direct contact with patients like dental assistants have higher chances of getting the infection, which increases their psychological stress and anxiety. 

 

Title :  Sources of Stress and Well-Being among Saudi Arabian undergraduate dental Students

Authors : Amjad Mohammed Almutairi,¹ Munirah Habib M Almimoni,¹ Sarah Fahad N Dhwi,¹ Abdullah Alassaf¹, Basim Almulhim,¹ Sara Alghamdi,¹ Sreekanth Kumar Mallineni^2,34*

institution: 

¹Department of Preventive Dental Science, College of Dentistry, Majmaah University, Al Majma’ah 11952, Saudi Arabia
²Pediatric Dentistry, Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Hospital, Ar Rayyan, Riyadh,14212, Saudi Arabia.
³Center for Transdisciplinary Research (CFTR), Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha Dental College, Saveetha University, Chennai, 600077 Tamil Nadu, India.
³Division for Globalization Initiative, Liaison Center for Innovative Dentistry Graduate School of Dentistry, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.

Abstract:

The study aimed to evaluate the sources of stress and well-being among  Arabian dental undergraduate students. The online questionnaire containing three domains, sociodemographic, dental environmental scale-39, and WHO well-being scale-6, were sent to dental undergraduate students across Saudi Arabia. A scale ranging from 0 (not stressful) to 5 (highly stressful). The achieved stress scores were compared using SPSS version 17.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, USA) with a p-value of ≤0.05 of a significant level.  Five hundred and ninety-nine participants from 25 dental schools in Saudi Arabia were involved in the state study sample majority were males, 57.9% (347), and thirty percent of the participants were interns. The mean DES stress scores for females and males were 3.42±0.81 and 3.2±0.8, respectively (p>0.05). The mean DES stress scores for 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, and interns were 2.96±0.19, 3.15±1.1, 3.14±0.81, 3.45±0.77, 3.45±0.8.and 3.9842±0.72 (p<0.05). Females dental students 3.06±0.88reported with higher stress scores for the living accommodation DES domain than the males (2.93±0.77) (p<0.05). Males 3.02±1.02reported with a more increased well-being index compared to females (2.67±0.94) with non-statistical significant (p>0.05). Third-year dental students (3.05±0.93) scored higher on well-being, while first-year students scored low (2.34±0.80). An association was found between first-year perceived stress and well-being scores among the study population for living accommodation, personal, and academic factors (p<0.05). Within the study's limitations, Saudi dental undergraduate students had high levels of perceived stress. Among them, female students were more stressed about living accommodations than males. Fifth-year students are more stressed compared to another year dental undergraduate students. Dental undergraduate students attending dental schools' well-being is associated with living accommodation, personal factors, and academic work in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: dental student; education; psychology; stress; well-being

PDF                        DOI: 10.47750/jptcp.2023.997