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Does Emotional Intelligence of Dental Undergraduates Influence Their Patient Satisfaction?
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Does Emotional Intelligence of Dental Undergraduates Influence Their Patient Satisfaction?

Mandakini Mohan, Kah Heng Lin, Abhishek Parolia and Allan Pau
International journal of dentistry, Vol.2021, pp.1-7
2021
DOI: 10.1155/2021/4573459
PMCID: 8487387
PMID: 34608391
url
https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/4573459View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Objectives. The research aimed to investigate if emotional intelligence (EI) scores of dental undergraduates influenced their patients’ satisfaction with the treatment received. Methods. A 33-item EI questionnaire was completed by 46 dental undergraduates in a cross-sectional study. Responses, measured on a five-point Likert scale, were summed to yield EI scores. Patients treated by the same undergraduates were invited to complete a patient satisfaction (PS) questionnaire. EI and PS scores were calculated and compared by undergraduates’ gender and the patients’ age and education status. The four EI factors (optimism/mood regulation, appraisal of emotions, utilization of emotions, and social skills of students) were correlated with PS using Spearman’s correlation test with a significance level set at p < 0.05 . Results. EI scores did not differ significantly between male (N = 23) and female (N = 23) undergraduates p = 0.218 . PS was not associated with patients’ gender, but those educated to the secondary school level were more likely to be satisfied compared to those educated to the college/university level p = 0.022 . Of the four EI factors, optimism/mood regulation was positively correlated with PS p = 0.049 . Conclusion. The results of the study suggest that the EI of the students can influence PS. Practical Implications. Interventions to enhance EI can be developed to improve the patient experience.

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