Strive-the Student View
January, 2007 edition

The Research Experience

 
By By Lesley Halteman, RDH, and Ashley Larkin, RDH, with Kitty Harkleroad, RDH, MS, faculty advisor

When one of our teachers, Kitty Harkleroad, RDH, MS, asked the senior dental hygiene class if anyone would be interested in participating in a research poster contest at the American Dental Hygienists' Association (ADHA) 83rd Annual Session and get out of a journal review class, we definitely jumped at the chance to get out of that class. Although unaware of how much work research entails, we were both excited about the project. We felt as though we could learn better when dealing with materials hands-on than simply by reviewing articles. We thought being able to actually gather information and analyze it would be rewarding in many ways. In addition, we were drawn to the opportunity to attend a national convention in Orlando, Fla., with some of our closest friends and to be able to go to Disney World for the first time.

Once our research group of four--Jessica Sullivan, Eva Renae Masters, Lesley Halteman and Ashley Larkin--was assembled, we got right to work. We were going to research the low number of ADHA memberships among licensed dental hygienists nationwide. ADHA is the largest national organization representing the professional interests of more than 120,000 registered dental hygienists in the United States. ADHA has approximately 38,000 members, which means that only 31.7% of American dental hygienists are members of their professional organization. By mailing surveys to 800 registered dental hygienists from across the United States, we hoped to find some reasons for this low membership.

Materials and Methods

Eight states were randomly selected, and then 100 registered dental hygienists were randomly selected from each state, which was not as easy a task as it sounds. Each student was held responsible for two states to help make the workload a little bit more bearable for everyone. The easiest part was selecting the states. The difficulty began when trying to acquire the lists of active registered dental hygienists from the states we had randomly selected. Some states wanted agreements that the lists would not be used for purposes other than the research, while others charged money for use of the lists. Some of these states agreed to a discount.

Once we had the lists, it was on to randomly selecting the survey participants, which involved cutting up the lists one name at a time into tiny strips and then putting them in a bag to be drawn from. Next, we had to stuff each envelope with one cover letter, one survey and one self-addressed, prestamped return envelope. Now, it was on to individually hand-addressing the envelopes for the 800 selected dental hygienists, which equaled 200 dental hygienists per student. Last, it was time to mail them off and patiently wait for responses. It was nerve-racking to wait and see how good a response we would get, or if we would get any kind of response at all.

As the surveys began to come in and the data was gathered, we were happy to know that our efforts were not made in vain. However, we ran into a little problem along the way. We had several envelopes returned, which forced us to randomly select another dental hygienist from the same state. Ultimately, we received 490 of the 800 surveys (61%).

Now it was time to begin formatting and designing our poster for the contest. We had a set format to go by, and we had to select the most important aspects of our project and put them in a systematic order on the poster. The fun part was picking out the colors, designs and graphs for our poster. Being University of Tennessee (UT) Health Science Center students, we all came to a quick agreement to demonstrate our school spirit and chose good ole Tennessee orange complimented with a bright shade of blue. Our goal was to make our poster draw in and captivate the audience. In order for the fellow convention attendees to remember our research, we decided to make a small tri-fold pamphlet for them to take with them. Knowing that the majority of the participants at the conference were ADHA members, we had high hopes of them passing along the research results to fellow dental hygienists back at home who were nonmembers.

Survey Results

Sixty-one percent of the 800 surveys (490) were returned for analysis. Fortunately, the UT Dental Hygiene Department paid someone to enter all of the data into the computer. Since the survey was four pages long, that was welcomed assistance. The result of our research was very interesting. Flexible work schedules, high earning potential and contributing to the public's oral health were the top three reasons the participants chose dental hygiene as a career. The top three practice concerns were preceptorship, dental assistants performing dental hygiene services illegally and reduction of entry-level educational requirements. Cost was the reason most often cited for nonmembership in ADHA (78%). Other reasons were family responsibilities (51%), lack of employer support (40%), time involved traveling to meetings (30%) and time involved attending meetings (26%).

Now it was crunch time to prepare for the contest. With all the anticipation and hopes of winning first place, it was hard not to be nervous. However, we had confidence in our research and encouragement from our advisor. The night before the contest, we made small note cards with the information from our research and began to rehearse. We each covered a certain portion of the poster, so we had different roles. Eight a.m. came very early, and we all had butterflies in our stomachs. It was hard to stay calm once we arrived and saw all the competition.

Research Poster Presentation

With our poster in place, we wanted to be sure to encourage ADHA membership by placing applications next to our pamphlets on the table. As the warning that the judges would be entering came, our anxiety grew. The first judge approached our table and it was not as smooth as we had hoped it would be the first time around. We were given 10 minutes to capture our judge's attention and inform her of over 30 hours of information that was gathered from our research. Needless to say, our nerves got the best of us, and we ran out of time the first go-around. Once the judge left, we worked out the kinks and took a few deep breaths, and it seemed to run more smoothly from that point on. After the judging ended, the poster session was opened for public viewing. Our table seemed to be one of the most talked-about tables in the room, with a lot of positive feedback, which gave us high hopes of winning.

A luncheon was held for all participants of the contest and included an awards ceremony. With our spirits high, we talked over our lunch about how exciting it would be to win, or even place. As the President of ADHA spoke and the awards were given out, we anxiously waited to hear our names called, but sadly, to our surprise, we did not place. Although we were disappointed, we still walked away with one thing. The editor-in-chief of Access magazine, Christine A. Hovliaras-Delozier, RDH, BS, MBA, approached us at the poster session about writing this article on our experience in "Strive - the Student View." Without any hesitation, we jumped at the opportunity and felt privileged to have been chosen.

Looking back, we both agree that the overall experience was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Although the research itself was hard work and required many hours out of our days, we walked away with a new outlook on ADHA, as well as new appreciation for what researchers go through. At times, it was stressful and tiresome, with the compounding of class work, studying for National Boards and preparing for the Southern Regional Testing Agency examinations, but we would do it all over again. We hope that our research in some way helps nonmembers of ADHA see the great need and benefits of supporting ADHA and their local chapters to protect and move our profession to the next level and elevate the practice of dental hygiene.

Lesley Halteman, RDH, is a 2006 dental hygiene graduate of The University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Since graduation, she has stayed in her hometown of Memphis, Tenn., and currently works full-time for Scott Edwards, DDS at Scott Edwards Family Dentistry, where she has recently been appointed to the position of dental hygiene coordinator. She finds that life as a dental hygienist who is finally out of school has been rewarding and pleasant in many ways. She has recently converted her SADHA membership to active membership in ADHA.

Ashley Larkin, RDH, is a proud 2006 graduate of The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, College of Allied Health, Dental Hygiene program. Upon graduating, she found two part-time jobs in the east Memphis area, one at Salazar Dental Group with Cali Salazar, DDS, and Jose Salazar, DDS, and the other at with Sherry Gates, DDS, at Sherry Gates General Dentistry. She works four-and-a-half days a week, rotating between offices. She sees her profession as an opportunity to promote a healthy oral environment, meet each individual's needs and build lasting relationships. She has recently converted her SADHA membership to active membership in ADHA.

Kitty Harkleroad, RDH, MS, is an assistant professor at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Tenn., and an active member of ADHA. She can be contacted with questions, suggestions or comments at kharkleroad@utmem.edu.