OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the study were to investigate the factors influencing the uptake of distance education courses by practising professional dentists in India, and also to explore the possibility of adopting distance education as a method for delivering continual professional development for dentistry [CPD] in India. STUDY DESIGN: The research was performed in three phases. The first phase consisted of a literature review and collection of data through a pilot questionnaire; the second and third phases consisted of data collection through questionnaires. The final data were collected from 201 Indian professional dentists using stratified random sampling using proportional allocations. RESULTS: The respondents' most important considerations while choosing a CPD course were topic, recognition by their respective Dental Council, Worldwide status of the course provider, and inclusion of a practical component. The results showed that age was the most significant predictor for dentists considering an online course. Dentists within the age group of 25-30 years were 4.92 times more likely to consider an online course when compared to their counterparts in the age group of <25 yrs., and around 73% of the 25-30 age group would consider enrolling in online courses. Academic extrinsic factors such as progressing up the academic ladder and social intrinsic factors such as contributing to society were also shown to be factors influencing the pursuit of CPD. Cost, duration of course, distance of travel, length of course, non-recognition of topics, and non-availability of practical courses acted as barriers to the up-take of CPD amongst the study participants. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that considering and accounting for the barriers identified, and adopting favourable measures which overcome these during the course design itself would result in higher preferences for such courses. More indepth research into these barriers and the factors driving them amongst learners is proposed. This would enable the adoption of distance education as a format to continue professional development in India.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:695836 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Banerji, Subir |
| Contributors | Millar, Brian James ; Cox, Margaret Josephine |
| Publisher | King's College London (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/factors-and-barriers-influencing-the-uptake-of-continuing-professional-development-through-distance-education-courses-for-professional-dentists(2522d1dc-4a45-444b-b5be-e7794d6fa70b).html |
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