Teaching Of Critical Appraisal And Research Methodology In Dental Education

This scoping review aims to comprehensively summarize the existing evidence and experience regarding the teaching of critical appraisal (CA) and research methodology (RM) to dental students and practitioners. Electronic searches of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and ERIC were conducted to identify articles regarding the teaching of CA and RM to dental professionals across four electronic databases, supplemented with manual and citation searches. Two researchers independently performed article selection and data extraction. Data were analysed using frequency tabulation and thematic content analysis A total of 53 articles were included, among which 14 (26.4%) were narrative articles introducing teaching experiences, while 39 (73.6%) were research studies. Most of the research studies (33/39, 84.6%) were observational, while only 1 used a randomized controlled design. Undergraduate education was the most frequently described in included articles (38/53, 71.7%), with fewer discussing postgraduate/resident education (12/53, 22.6%), faculty development (6/53, 11.3%), and continuing education (4/53, 7.5%). CA was typically taught during the first or second undergraduate years, whereas training in RM and statistics was more common at the postgraduate level. The teaching outcomes of CA or RM were rarely assessed independently. CA is often taught during the early stages of undergraduate dental education, while formal RM training is more prevalent at the postgraduate level. There remains a lack of high-quality evidence regarding the long-term effects of CA and RM teaching activities and their influence on clinical practice and patient outcomes.