Abstract
Purpose
To assess the effect of parenthood on the clinician's empathy and behavior guidance practices among pediatric dentists.
Methods
A web-based questionnaire was sent to all registered pediatric dentists in the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry through the AAPD mailing list. The questionnaire consisted of three main components, the sociodemographic data of the participants including age, gender, years of clinical experience, marital status, having children and number of children if applicable. The second section was designed to assess the clinician’s empathy. The final part contained multiple choice questions of the dentist’s past and current behavior guidance technique utilization.
Results
A total of 432 responses were received. Parent pediatric dentists demonstrated significantly better compassionate care than non-parent dentists. Female participants showed statistically significantly higher scores in overall empathy, and compassionate care. Furthermore, pediatric dentists report better comfortability with behavior guidance techniques after having children.
Conclusion
Parenthood may impact the pediatric dentists’ compassionate care; however, it does not seem to have an effect on his/her overall empathy. Moreover, having children may increase the level of comfort in practicing behavior guidance techniques except for Tell, Show, Do.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adair SM, Waller JL, Schafer TE, Rockman RA. A survey of members of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry on their use of behavior management techniques. Pediatr Dent. 2004;26:159–66.
Adair SM, Schafer TE, Waller JL, Rockman RA. Age and gender differences in the use of behavior management techniques by pediatric dentists. Pediatr Dent. 2007;29:403–8.
Allen KD, Stanley RT, McPherson K. Evaluation of behavior management technology dissemination in pediatric dentistry. Pediatr Dent. 1990;12:79–82.
American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry 2020. Behavior guidance for the pediatric dental patient. The Reference Manual of Pediatric Dentistry, 292–310.
Babar MG, Omar H, Lim LP, Khan SA, Mitha S, Ahmad SFB, Hasan SS. An assessment of dental students’ empathy levels in Malaysia. Int J Med Educ. 2013;4:223–9.
Baron-Cohen S. The essential difference: the truth about the male and female brain. New York: Basic Books; 2003.
Bellini LM, Shea JA. Mood change and empathy decline persist during three years of internal medicine training. Acad Med. 2005;80:164–7. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001888-200502000-00013.
Borracci RA, Doval HC, Nunez C, Samarelli M, Tamini S, Tanus E. Measurement of empathy among Argentine cardiologists: psychometrics and differences by age, gender, and subspecialty. Cardiol J. 2015;22:52–6. https://doi.org/10.5603/CJ.a2014.0050.
Chen D, Lew R, Hershman W, Orlander J. A cross-sectional measurement of medical student empathy. J Gen Intern Med. 2007;22:1434–8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-007-0298-x.
Decety J, Jackson PL. The functional architecture of human empathy. Behav Cogn Neurosci Rev. 2004;3:71–100. https://doi.org/10.1177/153458230426718710.1177/1534582304267187.
Folayan MO, Idehen E. Factors influencing the use of behavioral management techniques during child management by dentists. J Clin Pediatr Dent. 2004;28:155–61. https://doi.org/10.17796/jcpd.28.2.18w2v457t8878p69.
Hojat M, Mangione S, Nasca TJ, Cohen MJM, Gonnella JS, Erdmann JB, Veloski J, Magee M. The Jefferson scale of physician empathy: development and preliminary psychometric data. Educ Psychol Measur. 2001;61:349–65. https://doi.org/10.1177/00131640121971158.
Hojat M, Gonnella JS, Nasca TJ, Mangione S, Veloksi JJ, Magee M. The Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy: further psychometric data and differences by gender and specialty at item level. Acad Med. 2002a;77:S58-60. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001888-200210001-00019.
Hojat M, Gonnella JS, Nasca TJ, Mangione S, Vergare M, Magee M. Physician empathy: definition, components, measurement, and relationship to gender and specialty. Am J Psychiatry. 2002b;159:1563–9. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.159.9.1563.
Houkes I, Winants YHWM, Twellaar M. Specific determinants of burnout among male and female general practitioners: a cross-lagged panel analysis. J Occup Organ Psychol. 2008;81:249–76. https://doi.org/10.1348/096317907X218197.
Jonason PK, Valentine KA, Li NP. Human mating. In: Ramachandran VS, editor. Encyclopedia of human behavior (Second Edition). San Diego: Academic Press; 2012.
Jones LM, Huggins TJ. Empathy in the dentist-patient relationship: review and application. N Z Dent J. 2014;110:98–104.
Juntgen LM, Sanders BJ, Walker LA, Jones JE, Weddell JA, Tomlin AM, Eckert G, Maupome G. Factors influencing behavior guidance: a survey of practicing pediatric dentists. Pediatr Dent. 2013;35:539–45.
Lavergne MR, Gonzalez A, Ahuja MA, Hedden L, McCracken R. The relationship between gender, parenthood and practice intentions among family medicine residents: cross-sectional analysis of national Canadian survey data. Hum Resour Health. 2019;17:67. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-019-0396-y.
Sherman JJ, Cramer A. Measurement of changes in empathy during dental school. J Dent Educ. 2005;69:338–45.
Smith DD, Kellar J, Walters EL, Reibling ET, Phan T, Green SM. Does emergency physician empathy reduce thoughts of litigation? A randomised trial. Emerg Med J. 2016;33:548–52. https://doi.org/10.1136/emermed-2015-205312.
Souror Y, Aljehani D, Alshaikh M. Empathy of dental students toward children after behavior guidance lectures and clinical experience. Eur J Dent Educ. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/eje.12523.
van Winkle LJ, Fjortoft N, Hojat M. Validation of an instrument to measure pharmacy and medical students’ attitudes toward physician-pharmacist collaboration. Am J Pharm Educ. 2011;75:178. https://doi.org/10.5688/ajpe759178.
Yarascavitch C, Regehr G, Hodges B, Haas DA. Changes in dental student empathy during training. J Dent Educ. 2009;73:509–17.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
AOA conceived the idea; AOA collected the data; AFA conducted the analysis; AOA and AFA formulated the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Abushanan, A., Alyahyawi, A. The effect of parenthood on the clinician’s empathy and behavior guidance technique preferences among pediatric dentists. Eur Arch Paediatr Dent 23, 641–646 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40368-022-00735-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40368-022-00735-5