Perceived quality of life among oral health therapy and dental students: A cross-cultural comparison

Objectives This cross-sectional study examined the perceived quality of life (QOL) of Oral Health Therapy (OHT) students and compared the domain differences between Dental students, gender, and year-of-study. Methods OHT students from a local polytechnic were invited to participate (IRB no. (SHS-2019-001). Perceived QOL was assessed with the multidimensional World Health Organization QOL (WHOQOL)-BREF instrument. Demographic information and WHOQOL-BREF responses were collected electronically. Raw scores were converted to transformed scores and related to data of Dental students from other countries. Statistical analyses were performed with a T-test, one-way ANOVA/posthoc Tukey's test, and Pearson's correlation (p < 0.05). Results Of the total cohort of 66 students, 65 consented to participation (98.5% response rate). The study sample (mean age 19.2 +/- 2.9 years) comprised of 83.1% females (54/65). Mean domain scores were as follows: Physical health - 54.90 +/- 9.78; psychological - 50.98 +/- 17.36; social relationships - 60.69 +/- 16.47; and environment - 66.80 +/- 13.66. The psychological domain was rated the lowest as with most other studies on Dental students. Mean scores for the overall perception of QOL and "satisfaction with health" (SWH) were 3.46 +/- 0.83 and 3.35 +/- 0.89 respectively. No significant difference in the domain and overall QOL/SWH scores were observed between genders. Psychological and environmental domains scores were significantly different between the first and third-year students (p <= 0.02). Correlations coefficients between the QOL domains ranged from r(s) = 0.18-0.66. Conclusion Aside from the USA and Saudi Arabia, the perceived QOL of Asian OHT students was generally comparable to those of Dental students from other countries. Overall perceived QOL and satisfaction with health were moderately favourable.