• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.185-190
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• 2010

This study was conducted to collect the basic data to provide for the purpose of the development of dental field. This research is to find the relationship between the level of recognized empowerment of hygienists working in dental clinics and the factors influencing on work achievement in the system of dental clinics. The population of the research is some randomely chosen dental clinics located in Seoul City during the period from March 22 to April 30, 2010, and the sample of 256 female dental hygienists working in the field were recruited as the analysis object group. The data on general characteristics and empowerment were collected by a questionnaire survey. The collected data were analyzed with the SPSS WIN 12.0 program. The following shows the results of this study. 1. The empowerment level of the analysis subject group was 3.63. It is significant statistically that the longer working career or higher annual salary, the higher empowerment level (p<0.05). 2. It shows the high level of empowerment in the group of hygienists who are in education counsel (p<0.01), and who have a permanent job (p<0.05) than others. 3. There is a significant correlation among capability, age, career, annual salary (p<0.01). 4. There is a significant correlation among self determination, age(p<0.05), career (p<0.01), annual salary (p<0.05). 5. In regression analysis, career is proved as one of the significant factors that is related to the empowerment in dental hygienists (p<0.05). This finding shows high level of empowerment in dental hygienists who hold high level of career, annual salary, education counsel jobs, or permanent jobs. Therefore, I suggest with the result of the study that the organization of dental clinic needs to improve its capability and efficiency with the efficient manpower management. Particularly, there need to be various kinds of leadership-trainning and education-program development to enhance empowerment in hygienists as professionals through independent self-decision making experiences and role do experiences.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.368-374
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to evaluate community dental hygiene practice education, by verifying its effect after applying project-based learning in improving the practical and social skills of learners. A 15-week project-based community dental hygiene practice course was held for 27 senior students, who took community dental hygiene practice course in the Department of Dental Hygiene, Gangneung-Wonju National University. Twenty-seven students were composed of 4 teams. Each team selected a target group for four workplaces for adult workers to apply the oral health promotion project. The project was then planned and conducted based on a survey on the health problems confronting each group, and an evaluation was carried out after 4 weeks. From the results obtained in comparing confidence in problem solving ability, project value, teamwork competency, and community dental hygienist competence before and after course, the improvement in project value and teamwork competence scores was not statistically significant, but all four areas showed positive results. After analyzing the project actuality, learning outcomes, and project satisfaction after course results, the actuality of the project was 19.30 points, the learning achievement was 45.19 points, and the satisfaction was 19.19 points, demonstrating that the aim of achieving actual performance competence and a learning performance exceeding expectations was accomplished. After conducting an interview survey with 8 students, it was found that they had learned social skills involving problem-solving abilities and confidence, and teamwork competence such as cooperation, role responsibility, creative thinking ability, and communication skills. Community dental hygienists should be able to acquire learner-level practical skills and social skills in the community dental hygiene and practical courses, according to their competencies and job needs. It is necessary to develop a project?based systematic learning module to enable the community dental hygiene practice to operate as a subject closely related to fields in other dental hygiene departments.