Effects of counseling education on dental hygiene students using the self-affirmation awareness scale

Abstract

Counseling is consultation assistance that is provided by using specialized knowledge and skills for the problems and worries of clients.
Counseling in dental care is the provision of assistance by professionals for the effective treatment and health effects for patients.
Thus, counseling education for dental hygiene students is thought to be effective. “Oral health counseling training” as counseling education is carried out for dental hygiene students in our university. In this study, we investigated whether this training affects their self-esteem and attitude toward self-actualization, using a self-esteem questionnaire. The subjects were 148 third-year dental hygiene students who received the training from 2012 to 2018, and an analysis showed that the training was effective in 99.3％. The average scores for “self-acceptance,” “self-actualization attitude” and “fullness” in the self-realm area and “self-expression/personal positiveness” in the other-person area before the training, significantly increased compared to those after the training. Therefore, counseling education for dental hygiene students effectively improves self-esteem and interpersonal relationships, and teaches the importance of an attitude of empathy. On the other hand, the average score for “evaluated consciousness/interpersonal tension” in the other-person area did not change through the training, suggesting that the training contents such as interpersonal relationship ability need to be improved.