My first Magazine | Page 28

4 . Results Before analyzing the results , the column in the data Excel file indicating the students ’ emails was deleted , to keep the data anonymous . As there is no loss of data or unanswered questions among all subjects , the data will be projected mainly in percentages . Out of 164 students 110 completed the online questionnaire with a response rate of 67.0 % and a mean age of 18.9 ( range 16-25 ). 63.6 % of the participants were females and 36.4 % were males . With regard to the curricula they studied ; 61 ( 55.5 %) of the students completed Arabic high school curriculum and 27 ( 24 %) completed British curriculum ( Table 1 ). The respondents ’ ethnicity was uneven with the majority from Bahrain 20 ( 18.0 %) followed by Syrian and Iraqi 16 ( 14.4 %) and 15 ( 13.5 %) respectively ( Figure 1 ). Figure 2 shows the respondents ’ reasons for choosing dentistry as a career and level of importance . Of these , ” Have interest to treat people & improve their oral health ” ( 73.6 %), “ Dental practice is a combination of hand skills and knowledge ” ( 66.4 %), “ Dental profession provides option to be self-employed ” ( 61.8 ) and “ Dentistry has high-level income of practice ” ( 60.0 %) were the predominant influences . A high percentage of the respondents thought the dental profession provides a flexible work schedule and adequate time to spend with the family ( 52.7 %) and ( 56.4 %) respectively . Half of the respondents thought dentistry is a prestigious profession . In 30 % of the respondents the dental career was chosen on a recommendation by friends or relatives . Many students ( 42.7 %) thought pursuing dentistry would make the process of hunting a job much easier . A high percentage ( 47.3 %) assumed that dentistry offers a short cut to the health care profession without need for further studies . A low percentage of respondents ( 18.2 %) were admitted to dentistry as a second option after failing to obtain other programs . The motivation programs offered by the college marketing professionals during school time were important for 21.8 % of the respondents . Only ( 4.5 %) of the students were influenced by their dentist parents in choosing the dental career .

Figure 1 . Nationalities of the respondents

Table 1 . Showing the frequency and percentages of students and the studied curricula at high school level