| Abstract [eng] |
Title: Dental Students' Psychoemotional State in Relation to Oral Health Self-care Relevance of the problem and aim of the work: Psychoemotional stress significantly impacts health behaviours, especially oral health self-care. Dental students who experience high social and academic pressure are more likely to experience stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms. There is insufficient research on how these psychoemotional factors relate to oral health care, particularly in populations with adequate knowledge of oral health. The aim of this study was to assess the level of psychoemotional status of students enrolled in a full-time dental programme and to investigate its association with indicators of oral self-care and socio-demographic factors. Material and methods: A cross-sectional design study was conducted at the Institute of Dentistry, Vilnius University Faculty of Medicine, 2024–2025. Considering the number of students enrolled during the study period (205) and using the sample size calculator, the minimum sample size required was determined to be 134 students. Two groups of subjects were formed: students studying in Lithuanian (LS) and English (ENS). Anonymous paper-based questionnaires collected the data. Only fully completed questionnaires were included in the study. The English version used the original questionnaires, while the Lithuanian version used validated translations. The questionnaire consisted of the Oral Health Self-Efficacy Scale (OHSES) and psychological symptom assessment instruments: the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Statistical analysis was performed using Shapiro-Wilk, Chi-square, Mann-Whitney U tests, multiple linear regression and the Spearman’s rank correlation test. Values of continuous variables were presented as means with standard deviations (SD). Results were considered statistically significant when p<0.05. Results: In total, 155 questionnaires out of 160 (97%) were included in the study, of which 87 (56%) were LS and 68 (44%) were ENS. The LS group was predominantly female (87%), and the ENS group was predominantly male (60%), p<0.001. The mean age of the LS subjects was 22 years (SD=2.4), and that of the ENS subjects was 24 years (SD=2.6), p<0.001. OHSES and depressive symptoms did not differ significantly between groups: mean OHSES was 52 (SD=5.7) in the LS group and 51 (SD=8.6) in the ENS group. The mean depressive symptom scores were the same in both LS (4, SD=3.3) and ENS (4, SD=3.2) groups. LS reported higher anxiety symptoms (9, SD=3.9) than ENS (7, SD=4.2), p<0.001. There was a statistically significant moderate negative correlation between oral health self-care and depressive symptoms (ρ=-0.22, p=0.01). A weak but also significant correlation was found between increased stress and lower oral health self-efficacy scores (ρ=-0.17, p=0.03). Depressive symptoms were the most important predictor of oral health behaviour (B=-0,75, p<0.001). Conclusions: Dental students studying in Lithuanian exhibited lower psychoemotional indicators compared to those studying in English. Psychoemotional status influenced the oral self-care of dental students. Among all examined factors, depressive symptoms showed the strongest association with lower levels of oral health self-care. The study's results support the need to integrate psychological support and stress management strategies into dental curricula to improve students' well-being. |
