More than Caring: Building a Foundation of Skills and Competencies to Teach Self-Advocacy in a Female-Dominated Profession

External patriarchal interventions and market-driven forces have limited professional advancements and autonomy of the female-dominated dental hygiene (DH) profession since its foundation. The DH profession defines itself though caring and advocating for public access to its essential services. However, the lack of voice and autonomy are reported causes of DH practitioner burnout and labour shortages. DH education lacks training and foundational skills for self-advocacy. This Dissertation-in-Practice (DiP) explores the organizational context of a South-Western Ontario DH college (SWO College or the school) and addresses a complex problem of practice (PoP) that recognizes the barriers, both past and present, that kept DH educators from teaching self-advocacy and recognizes the needs of these educators to develop the required skills and competencies. As change agent, my agency as a female DH educator supports a feminist lens to create novel ideas and solutions. A framework analysis of sociocultural recognition, political representation, and technical/economical distribution paradigms reveals rigid hierarchy and gender inequality in DH education. An envisioned future for SWO College supports collaborative bottom-up community of practice peer mentoring led by ethical and transformational leadership approaches. The ADKAR change model fosters an individualized focus on DH educators’ needs to acquire the knowledge, communication, and leadership components of self-advocacy. The PDSA cycle monitors and evaluates each change step. The DiP concludes with next steps and future considerations for the school.