Evaluation of the Relationship between Students’ Tendencies towards Dental Specialization and the Career Futures Inventory

Abstract

Purpose: Career choice is a decision directly associated with an individual's future, well-being and the role they will play within society. It is crucial for individuals to engage in career planning that aligns with their personality to make informed decisions about their future. This study seeks to uncover the connections between factors that influence motivation for dental specialization and the Career Futures Inventory (CFI). The goal is to clarify this relationship, obtaining more objective data and gaining analytical insights into these connections. Materials and Methods: The present study employed a survey instrument to gather data from dentistry students enrolled at eleven dental faculties across Turkey. Statistical analyses of the collected data, including the generation of tables and graphs, were conducted using RStudio Version 2023.12.0+369 (Posit Software, PBC). Diverse descriptive statistical tests were performed to explore the relationships between participants' demographic information, thoughts and tendencies towards specialization and career future perceptions. Results: Based on the CFI assessment of participating students, career adaptability and career optimism scores were found to be high while perceived knowledge of the labor market remained at a moderate level. Notably, the overall CFI score exceeded the average and exhibited a positive correlation with the specialization tendency score. Conclusions: Effective student guidance throughout the career planning phase, coupled with personalized and rational counseling services, is believed to cultivate professionally fulfilled individuals who are valuable contributors to both themselves and the society. Furthermore, it is believed that universally applicable insights can be achieved by adapting such measures to diverse cultural contexts.

Keywords

• Dental education
• dental specialization
• career planning
• career future inventory

References

1. Bawden J. The scope and objectives of graduate dental education. J Dent Educ. 1980;44(10):600–10.
2. American Dental Association, National Commission in Recognition of Dental Specialties And Certifying Boards. Recognized dental specialties [Internet]. 2022 [cited 2024 Jan 7]. Available from: https://ncrdscb.ada.org/recognized-dental-specialties
3. Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye. Official Gazzette. 2011 Apr 26 [cited 2024 Jan 7];(27916):EK-2. Available from: https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2011/04/20110426-1.htm
4. Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye. Official Gazzette. 2009 Jul 18 [cited 2024 Jan 7];(27292):Item-15. Available from: https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2009/07/20090718-5.htm
5. Turkish Dental Association. Number of Faculties by Years [Internet]. 2023 [cited 2024 Jan 7]. Available from: https://www.tdb.org.tr/sag_menu_goster.php?Id=84
6. İşmen AT. Dentistry Education and Manpower. In: Dentistry Deans Council Meeting [Internet]. Konya: Turkish Dental Association; 2023 [cited 2024 Jan 7]. p. 2–3. Available from: https://www.tdb.org.tr/userfiles/files/Dekanlar_Konseyi_Toplantisi_11_07_2023_(T_Ismen_Konusma).pdf
7. Turkish Dental Association. Population and Dentist Count Increase Rates from 2010 to 2022 [Internet]. 2022 [cited 2024 Jan 7]. Available from: https://www.tdb.org.tr/sag_menu_goster.php?Id=387
8. Varol E. Career management, planning and new developments. Istanbul: Istanbul University Printing House Directorate; 2001.

9. Turkish Statistical Institute. Number of Health Care Professionals 2019-2021. Türkiye in Statistics. 2022;29.
10. Dündar Gİ. Career Development. Human Resources Management. 2013;268–98.
11. Rottinghaus PJ, Day SX, Borgen FH. The Career Futures Inventory: A Measure of Career-Related Adaptability and Optimism. J Career Assess. 2005;13(1):3–24.
12. Kalafat T. Career Futures Inventory (CFI): The Examination of Psychometric Properties in Turkish Sample. Turkish Psychological Counseling and Guidance Journal. 2012;4(38):169–79.
13. Savickas ML. Career Adaptability: An Integrative Construct for Life‐Span, Life‐Space Theory. Career Dev Q. 1997;45(3):247–59.
14. Duffy RD. Sense of Control and Career Adaptability Among Undergraduate Students. J Career Assess. 2010;18(4):420–30.
15. Boehm JK, Lyubomirsky S. Does Happiness Promote Career Success? J Career Assess. 2008;16(1):101–16.
16. Creed PA, Patton W, Bartrum D. Multidimensional Properties of the Lot-R: Effects of Optimism and Pessimism on Career and Well-Being Related Variables in Adolescents. J Career Assess. 2002;10(1):42–61.
17. Menaghan EG, Merves ES. Coping with Occupational Problems: The Limits of Individual Efforts. J Health Soc Behav. 1984;25(4):406.
18. Williams JE, Johansen E. Career Disruption in Higher Education. J Higher Educ. 1985;56(2):144.
19. Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye Human Resources Office. Career Planning Course [Internet]. [cited 2024 Jan 7]. Available from: https://www.cbiko.gov.tr/en/projects/career-planning-course
20. Kalafat T. A model study to determine the personal factors affecting the perception of career future. PhD Thesis, Ankara University. Institute of Educational Sciences, Ankara; 2014.
21. Pala A. Factors of affecting students’ career values: The example of faculty of sports science. J Hum Sci. 2016;13(1):1897–905.
22. Posit team. RStudio: Integrated Development Environment for R [Internet]. Boston, MA; 2024. Available from: http://www.posit.co/
23. R Core Team. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing [Internet]. Vienna, Austria; 2024. Available from: https://www.R-project.org/
24. William Revelle. psych: Procedures for Psychological, Psychometric, and Personality Research [Internet]. Evanston, Illinois; 2024. Available from: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=psych
25. Council of Higher Education. Student Statistics [Internet]. 2023 [cited 2024 Jan 7]. Available from: https://istatistik.yok.gov.tr/
26. Vigild M, Schwarz E. Characteristics and study motivation of Danish dental students in a longitudinal perspective. Eur J Dent Educ. 2001 Aug 20;5(3):127–33.
27. Fisher NL, Wilson R, Bartlett D. The perceived barriers of vocational dental practitioners in London to specialisation. Br Dent J. 2007;203(S5):25–7.
28. Aggarwal A, Mehta S, Gupta D, Sheikh S, Pallagatti S, Singh R, et al. Dental Students’ Motivations and Perceptions of Dental Professional Career in India. J Dent Educ. 2012;76(11):1532–9.
29. Halawany HS, Binassfour AS, AlHassan WK, Alhejaily RA, Al Maflehi N, Jacob V, et al. Dental specialty, career preferences and their influencing factors among final year dental students in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Dent J. 2017;29(1):15–23.
30. Karibe H, Kawakami T, Suzuki A, Warita S, Ogata K, Aoyagi K, et al. Career choice and attitudes towards dental education amongst dental students in Japan and Sweden. Eur J Dent Educ. 2009;13(2):80–6.
31. Halawany HS. Career Motivations, Perceptions of the Future of Dentistry and Preferred Dental Specialties Among Saudi Dental Students. Open Dent J. 2014;8(1):129–35.
32. Al-Dlaigan YH, AlBarakati SF, Al-Habeeb F, Al-Hulaily M. Career characteristics and postgraduate education of female dentist graduates of the College of Dentistry at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Dent J. 2012;24(1):29–34.
33. Taşsöker M, Çelik M. Diş hekimliği öğrencilerinde mezuniyet sonrası kariyer ve uzmanlık motivasyonu. Selcuk Dent J. 2019;6(4):108–11.
34. Karibe H, Kawakami T, Suzuki A, Warita S, Ogata K, Aoyagi K, et al. Career choice and attitudes towards dental education amongst dental students in Japan and Sweden. Eur J Dent Educ. 2009;13(2):80–6.
35. Weaver RG, Chmar JE, Haden NK, Valachovic RW. Annual ADEA Survey of Dental School Seniors: 2004 Graduating Class. J Dent Educ. 2005;69(5):595–619.
36. Daud A, Matoug-Elwerfelli M, Du X, Ali K. A qualitative enquiry into dental students’ perceptions of dentistry as a career choice in the State of Qatar. BMC Med Educ. 2022;22(1):452.
37. Gilavand A, Barekat G, Hosseinpour M. Evaluation of Dental Students’ Motives and Viewpoints on Their Career Choice in Ahvaz. Jentashapir Journal of Health Research. 2015;6(6).
38. Karibe H, Suzuki A, Sekimoto T, Srithavaj MLT, Iamaroon A, Warita S, et al. Cross‐Cultural Comparison of the Attitudes of Dental Students in Three Countries. J Dent Educ. 2007;71(11):1457–66.
39. Dhima M, Petropoulos VC, Han RK, Kinnunen T, Wright RF. Dental Students’ Perceptions of Dental Specialties and Factors Influencing Specialty and Career Choices. J Dent Educ. 2012;76(5):562–73.
40. Giummarra A, Inderjeeth K, Celebic D, Sun ZL, Rincon JC, Vozza I, et al. Factors influencing consideration of dental specialisation: a survey of current dental students at the University of Western Australia. Ann Stomatol (Roma). 2018;9(1):27–34.
41. Nurmi JE, Salmela-Aro K, Koivisto P. Goal Importance and Related Achievement Beliefs and Emotions during the Transition from Vocational School to Work: Antecedents and Consequences. J Vocat Behav. 2002;60(2):241–61.
42. Toit J Du, Jain S, Montalli V, Govender U. Dental Students’ Motivations for Their Career Choice: An International Investigative Report. J Dent Educ. 2014;78(4):605–13.
43. Rottinghaus PJ, Buelow KL, Matyja A, Schneider MR. The Career Futures Inventory–Revised. J Career Assess. 2012;20(2):123–39.
44. Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye. Official Gazzette. 2023 Jan;(32415). Available from: https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2023/12/20231230-10.pdf