The effect of teaching experience on service-learning beliefs of dental hygiene educators

The purpose of this non-experimental causal-comparative study was to determine if service-learning teaching experience affects dental hygiene faculty perceptions of service-learning benefits and barriers in the United States. Dental hygiene educators from entry-level dental hygiene education programs in the United States completed the Web-based Faculty Service-Learning Beliefs Inventory (wFSLBI) and a short demographic survey to determine the perceived differences in benefits at the classroom and community levels, and barriers at the classroom and institutional levels. Independent samples t tests and Mann-Whitney tests were employed in data analysis. Results from 317 surveys revealed there was a statistically significant difference between dental hygiene educators' perceptions in three of the four areas (benefits at the classroom and community levels and barriers at the classroom level) based on their service-learning teaching experience. In regards to institutional barriers, there was no significant difference between the two groups. These findings suggest that service-learning teaching experience impacts United States entry-level program dental hygiene faculty beliefs about the educational pedagogy known as service-learning. This tentative evidence contributes valuable knowledge to the field of service-learning in dental hygiene education and the broader field of service-learning in health professions education. It is recommended that other investigations into the service-learning beliefs of higher education faculty include additional health professional educators for contrast and comparison.;Keywords: service-learning, health professions, education, faculty beliefs and/or perceptions.