The Effect of Peer Education on Practical Skills Training of Dentistry Students in Restorative Preclinic

Introduction: Peer education can be a useful adjunctive method for clinical skills training. This study was performed to evaluate the effect of peer education on practical skill training of dental students in restorative preclinic. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study which was performed in years 2009-10, all 34 dental students of Tabriz School of Dentistry (admission year:2006), who enrolled in practical restorative I course and met inclusion criteria were randomly divided into two groups as intervention and control. Peer education method was used for intervention group besides the conventional method for running practical restorative I course, while in control group, the course ran conventionally. At the end of the semester, the mean rank of students’ scores in the course in the two groups were compared. For this purpose, SPSS software and Mann-Whitney U test were used at a significance level of P<0.05. Results: The mean scores in practical restorative I was 15.73±1.69 in the intervention group and 14.69±2.67 in the control group. There was no significant difference in the mean rank of scores between the two groups. Conclusion: Practical skill of students who had used peer education method was the same as the students in the control group. It is suggested that peer education method be considered as a supplementary educational method in education of restorative dentistry preclinical course.