EVIDENCE BASED DENTISTRY: KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES AMONGST UNDERGRADUATES/ GRADUATES OF KARACHI

Abstract

Objective: The study aimed to evaluate the Knowledge, attitude, practices and perceived barriers of evidence-based dentistry amongst undergraduates/ graduates of Karachi. Setting: Dental College of Karachi. Study design: cross sectional study. Period: October 2019- March 2020. Material and Method: Amongst undergraduates and graduates of two dental colleges chosen at random from the list of dental colleges of Karachi. A pretested self-administered questionnaire was distributed to the participants. The questionnaire consisted of total 15 questions to assess Knowledge (6 questions), attitude, (5 questions) practices(3questions) and barriers (1 question) of evidence -based dentistry. Data was entered into SPSS version 22. Chisquare test was used to analyze the data. A mean score of Knowledge was obtained and different variables by using independent t-test and ANOVA as required. Pearson correlation was done to find correlation of knowledge score with variables. Results: A total of 342 participants responded to the questionnaire and there were 43.9% males and 56.1% females. Regarding age73.7% of the respondents aged between 20-25 years. Conclusion: The current study concluded that students and house surgeons were familiar with the term evidence-based dentistry when compared to the faculty members. The findings of the study also showed a positive attitude towards evidence-based dentistry.