Which Evidence has an Impact on Dentists' Willingness to Change Their Behavior?

There is some literature on how to find the best evidence for clinical practice but little is known about which evidence clinicians actually seek when they look for scientific support in changing behavior. The aim of this study was to explore which evidence has an impact on dentists' willingness to change their behavior by investigating the requirements for seeking and understanding new knowledge, as well as perceived barriers or motives for doing this.

A postal questionnaire was analyzed according to demographic information, access to and use of a personal computer, postgraduate education activity, knowledge about evidence-based medicine and scientific terms, and seeking and grasping new and actual knowledge from 177 dentists. Fifteen of these dentists formed 3 focus groups that were interviewed about the areas in the questionnaire. First-order information, that was required in a short time, was sought by the nearest colleagues. Literature and Internet-based technology were second-order information, mainly sought by younger dentists. The people that were interviewed claimed that the real point of issue was to find new knowledge that could be transferred into practice. Many studies pointing to sometimes diverging results only seem to create confused professionals. To include some qualitative aspects in evidence-based reports could be a way of improving understanding and changing behavior in a favorable direction and perhaps also increase interest for new knowledge.

Introduction

How do you seek new knowledge in your dental profession and what are the chances that you change your behavior according to new data or evidence? If you, like most dental professionals,¹ want to be familiar with the latest in science or evidence to give your patients good (reliable) treatments, how do you find it? And then, what will you do with it? Being up to date with the latest regarding the most common diagnoses in daily practice is different from seeking support for the treatment of a rare affliction. There is some literature on where to find and how to find the best evidence for clinical practice.2, 3, 4 It is (usually) recommended to start your search in one of the databases with already critically assessed information, such as the Cochrane Library.5, 6 The first information source you will be looking for would be a systematic review, ie, compiled and synthesized information from relevant primary studies. In broad databases for medical literature, such as PubMed, there could be a lot of irrelevant and invalid data. There are certain journals that bring together “secondary” information on relevant topics. Clinically useful papers from other journals are here critically assessed and commented on. One example is the journal Evidence-based Dentistry, which began publishing in 1998.⁷

Little is known about what clinicians actually do when they look for scientific support in changing behavior. Which is the most appropriate way of gaining new and relevant professional knowledge to be translated into practice? Will dentists or groups of dentists, as well as other professionals, seek other ways for information and knowledge? A quantitatively oriented scientist would probably prefer looking at valued randomized clinical trials (RCT), but for clinicians other sources may be as well or even more attractive. To answer these questions we performed a study with both quantitative and qualitative data collections, to grasp several perspectives of the phenomenon.

The aim was to explore which evidence has an impact on dentists' willingness to change their behavior by investigating the requirements for seeking and understanding new knowledge, as well as their perceived barriers or motives for doing this.