2026 Volume 42 Issue 2 Pages 53-60
Abstract This single-group pre-post study examined whether a film-based cinemeducation session influences first-year dental students’ self-reported empathy toward older adults with dementia and their awareness of professionalism. Eighty-one first-year dental students viewed a 50-minute edited version of the Japanese film A Long Goodbye (2019), followed by small-group discussion. A 14-item self-administered questionnaire using a 5-point Likert scale (1-5) and free-text reflections were collected before and after the session. Pre-post differences were analyzed using paired t-tests ; Holm correction was applied as a supplementary analysis for multiple comparisons, and effect sizes (Cohen’s dz) were calculated. Free-text data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Significant increases were observed in 9 of 14 items before correction and in 7 items after Holm correction, with notable gains in students’ ability to concretely imagine the perspectives of patients and family caregivers, perceived importance of nonverbal communication, motivation to learn about dementia and geriatric care, and awareness of professionalism Thematic analysis of free-text reflections also indicated an increase in themes such as deepened empathy, understanding of caregiver burden, and personal relevance ( “making it one’s own” ), which generally converged with the quantitative findings. These results suggest that cinemeducation incorporating film viewing and small-group discussion may facilitate affective-domain learning in early dental education and contribute to fostering empathy and professionalism relevant to dementia care (ethics approval : ECNG-E-16).
