J Korean Acad Oral Health.  2012 Sep;36(3):238-248.

The ethical propensity, professionalism and ethical job behavior of clinical dental hygienists

• Lee SJ
• Han GS

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study was to the ethical propensity, professionalism, and ethical job behavior of dental hygienists.
METHODS
The subjects of this study were 748 dental hygienists, who are working at various types of dental hospitals and clinics around the country, from January 23 to March 30, 2012. Data were analyzed with a t-test, one-way ANOVA, Chi-square, and Stepwise multiple regression analysis SPSS 19.0.
RESULTS
As for the ethical propensity of dental hygienists, their idealism scores were 3.87, which was higher than their relativism scores. The ethical job behavior and professionalism scores were higher in absolutists (3.80, 3.40 points) and situationists (3.77, 3.44 points), than subjectivists (3.49, 3.19 points) and exceptionists (3.38, 3.09 points) in the ethical types. The ethical job behavior and professionalism-related common Influence factors was idealism.
CONCLUSIONS
The absolutists and situationists with a high tendency of idealism were high in the level of professionalism and ethical job behavior, according to the ethical types.

Keyword

Dental hygienist; Ethical job behavior; Ethical propensity; Idealism; Professionalism

MeSH Terms

Dental Hygienists
Humans