背景:每年,超过200名国际牙科毕业生开始美国专业培训,成为专家。尚不清楚他们的生活满意度是否与居住前的牙科职业相关因素相关(例如牙科学校班级排名,研究经验,或私人执业经验)和居留后(例如,留在美国,教学现状,workplace,或董事会认证)。这项横断面研究旨在通过调查追求美国居留的台湾牙科毕业生来确定这些潜在因素。
方法:使用结构化问卷测量生活满意度,生活满意度量表(SWLS),其中包括5分Likert量表的5个陈述。在线调查已发送给290名台湾牙科毕业生,这些毕业生曾在美国任职。T检验,单向方差分析,和多变量调整广义线性模型(GLM)用于评估不同变量的平均SWLS得分的差异。
结果:调查由158名牙医完成。125名专家的平均SWLS评分高于33名居民的评分(p=0.0007)。对于125名专家来说,多变量调整后的GLM显示更好的生活满意度与多个独立因素呈正相关,比如有研究经验,在牙科学校中排名前26~50%,在牙科学校毕业后的4年内开始美国居留,在1996年之前开始居留,专门从事牙髓学(与牙周病)。居住后的生活满意度与任何因素无关(例如,之后留在美国,教学现状,或工作场所),但是,较好的平均生活满意度得分与牙科学校26%〜75%班级的专家获得美国专业委员会认证(p<0.001)显着相关。对于33名居民来说,在双变量(p=0.020)和多变量校正GLM(p=0.004)分析中,较好的平均生活满意度评分与较好的牙科学校班级排名相关.
结论:台湾牙科毕业生在美国定居的生活满意度可能与一些专业因素有关,例如研究经验,牙科学校班级排名,居住时间,专业类型,和专业委员会认证。我们希望我们的结果可以为准备美国居留的国际牙科毕业生/学生提供一些客观的信息。
BACKGROUND: Each year, more than 200 international dental graduates start U.S. specialty trainings to become specialists. It is unknown if their life satisfaction is associated with any dental career-related factor before residencies (e.g. dental school class rank, research experience, or private practice experience) and after residencies (e.g. staying in the U.S., teaching status, workplace, or board certification). This cross-sectional
study aimed to identify these potential factors by surveying Taiwanese dental graduates who pursued U.S. residencies.
METHODS: Life satisfaction was measured with a structured questionnaire, Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), which includes five statements on a 5-point Likert scale. Online surveys were sent out to 290 Taiwanese dental graduates who were known to pursue U.S. residencies. T-test, one way analysis of variance, and multivariable adjusted generalized linear model (GLM) were used to assess the differences of mean SWLS scores from different variables.
RESULTS: Surveys were completed by 158 dentists. Mean SWLS score of 125 specialists was higher (p = 0.0007) than the score of 33 residents. For the 125 specialists, multivariable adjusted GLM demonstrated better life satisfaction was positively associated with multiple independent factors, such as having research experience, being ranked in the top 26 ~ 50% of the class in dental school, starting U.S. residency within 4 years after dental school, starting residency before year 1996, and specializing in endodontics (vs. periodontics). Life satisfaction was not associated with any factors after residency (e.g. staying in the U.S. afterwards, teaching status, or workplace), but better mean life satisfaction score was significantly associated with being American specialty board certified (p < 0.001) for the specialists in the 26 ~ 75% of their class in dental school. For the 33 residents, better mean life satisfaction score was associated with better dental school class rank in both bivariate (p = 0.020) and multivariable adjusted GLM (p = 0.004) analyses.
CONCLUSIONS: The life satisfaction of Taiwanese dental graduates pursuing U.S. residencies might be associated with some professional factors, such as research experience, dental school class rank, residency timing, specialty type, and specialty board certification. We hope our results may provide some objective information on making career decisions for international dental graduates/students who are preparing for U.S. residency.