Creativity in Relation to Academic and Clinical Performance of Dentistry Students

Abstract

Aims: This study sought to identify the level of creativity of dentistry students, to determine if there is a relationship between creativity and academic performance of dentistry students, and to determine if there is a relationship between creativity and clinical performance of dentistry students. Study Design:  Descriptive-Correlation Cross-sectional Study. Place and Duration of Study: Adventist University of the Philippines College of Dentistry, between May 2015 and April 2016. Methodology: Questionnaires were used to measure the level of creativity of Dentistry students from the Adventist University of the Philippines then correlations were done with academic and clinical performance. Participation was voluntary and we included 50 of the 63 students enrolled int the clinical phase of the dentistry program. Results: There was no significant relationship found at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) between both Big C and small C creativity and academic performance of all clinicians with pearson correlation coefficients of -0.053 and -0.003 respectively. There was no significant relationship found at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) between the Big C and the small C creativity and clinical performance of all clinicians, with Pearson correlation coefficients of -0.192 and -0.042 respectively. Conclusion: The findings reveal that the creativity of dentistry students is below average. They also suggest that both Big C and small C creativity are not significantly relatedto academic or clinical success in dental school. The researchers recommend further study with modified methodology.