The association between sex, knowledge, and education level of evidence-based dentistry behavior among dentistry students

Background: Almost all faculties of dentistry have implemented Evidence Based Dentistry (EBD) curriculum to improve students ability to provide the best treatment for patients supported by the best research evidence, but there is still little data to show evaluations in their use. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the association between sex, knowledge, and education level of evidence-based dentistry behavior among dentistry students. Method: The study was a cross sectional survey and has received ethical approval. Self-administrated questionnaires distributed to second, third and fourth year students of the Faculty of Dental Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya. Contingency Correlation analysis was performed to determine the association between sex and behavior, Spearman’s correlation analysis was performed to determine the association between knowledge, education level and behavior. All data were analyzed with a significance level of 95%. Result: A total of respondents filled out and returned the questionnaire were 221. Eighty five percent of respondents were females. Based on statistical analysis, there is association between sex and behavior of the implementation of EBD with 0,000 significance value, there is association between the knowledge and behavior of the implementation of EBD with 0.008 significance value, and there is no association between the level of education and behavior of the implementation of EBD with a significance value of 0.458. Conclusion: There is association between sex and with behavior, but there is no association between the level of education of dentistry students with evidence-based dentistry behavior.