Examining how dental students perceive their racial/ethnic campus climate

Since the 1980s, postsecondary institution researchers have dedicated considerable attention to examining how college students perceive the racial and ethnic climate of their campuses. These studies have consistently demonstrated that students from different racial/ethnic groups have varying perceptions of, and experiences on, their campus environments. Hurtado et al. (1998) have shown that the institutional climate for diversity is actually multidimensional and composed of four distinct, yet interrelated dimensions. Yet on the campuses of health professional programs, such as medical and dental schools, student perceptions of their racial/ethnic climate are rarely studied if even considered. Because healthcare professional students will be interacting intimately with an increasingly diverse population, healthcare educators should understand how their students experience race and ethnicity while undergoing professional training. The purpose of this study was to examine dental student perceptions and experiences of the racial/ethnic environment of their educational programs. The two research questions this study sought to examine were: (1) how dental students perceive and experience their racial/ethnic campus climate, (2) the differential perceptions, by race, of the campus climate by dental students. The sample of this study, 1065 dental students at a large urban, Northeastern dental school, were provided an anonymous survey of 94 items. The racial and ethnic breakdown of this sample was approximately 40% white, 2.7% black, 4.3% Hispanic, 40% Asian, <1% Native American, and 12.5% other. A total of 526 dental students completed the survey (50% yield). ANOVA and regression analyses were conducted. Results of this study show that health professional students of color at this institution have similar perceptions of their racial/ethnic climate as do undergraduate students of color, confirmed in multiple previous studies. The implications of this study for practice include introducing a broad assessment of dental school climates for race/ethnicity of all dental programs, and incorporating cultural competency training of health professional faculty. Further research topics that emerged include increased assessment of the Asian student population in regards to their perceptions and experiences of the health professional program climate, as well as the potential impact of the racial/ethnic climate on the socialization process of all health professional students.