Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Related to Healthcare Ethics among Dental Students in Birjand in 2021

Introduction: Medical ethics education is very vital to maintaining legality and maintain public trust in dentistry. Therefore, this study aimed to measure the knowledge, attitude, and practice of medical ethics of Birjand dental faculty students in 2021. Method: In this descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study, 117 dental students who passed or were passing the medical ethics unit participated. The data was collected using a questionnaire consisting of two sections (demographic information and questions related to the areas of knowledge, attitude and performance). The knowledge and attitude were measured through a questionnaire that was used in previous studies and its validity and reliability were confirmed. Performance was measured using a researcher-made questionnaire, the reliability of which was obtained by Cronbach's alpha method of 0.78. Data analysis was done using Independent Samples T-tests, One-way analysis of variance, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests at the significance level of 0.05. Results: The mean score of students' knowledge, attitude, and practices was 34.11 ± 6.09, 47.07 ± 5.73, and 31.74 ± 6.02, respectively. There was a significant relationship between performance and attitude of students (r = 0.403, P < 0.05). Furthermore, there was a significant difference in the mean score of attitudes according to gender (p = 0.020), female students had a higher mean score of attitudes than males. Conclusion: Based on the study's results, despite good knowledge, students' attitudes and performance are at an average level. Therefore, proper education on dental ethics among students, especially male students, seems necessary.