Comparison Of DREEM, Domines, And Item Scores Between Dental And Medical Colleges In Saudi Arabia: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: Educational Environment (EE) could influence the teacher and student behaviors in dental as well as medical fields.

Objectives: This systematic review aimed to compare between genders in relation to the overall DREEM, domines, and item scores among EEs of dental and medical governmental and private colleges in SA universities.

Methods: Cross-sectional studies that measured the perception of student gender in EE in dental and medical colleges among Saudi universities via direct evaluation and interviews by using DREEM, domines, and item scores involved in this review. Studies conducted in 2011 up to 2021 were included. From all the included studies, the following pieces of information were extracted: researcher’s name, year of publication, city, sample size, gender; overall-DREEM, domines, and item scores, gender, and domine significancy; and registered high as well as low item scores.

Results: A total of 19 studies were included in this review, of which 9 studies were conducted in dental colleges (one private and 8 governmental); however, 10 governmental studies were carried out among medical schools. Response rates (RRs) were 74% and 79% in the dental and medical studies, respectively. The gender numbers with significant and non-significant values were much higher in dental studies than medical ones. Overall, the DREEM scores were in the ‘’Plenty of Problems’’ and ‘’More positive than negative’’ in both dental and medical studies with scores between 51–100 and 101–150, respectively. For dental and medical studies, nearly equal scores were recorded in the SPL and SSSP domine, while SPT and SPA domines were slightly higher in the medical studies. Conversely, the opposite was recorded in the SASP domine.

Conclusion: This review scored good students’ perceptions for EEs in both dental and medical studies with overall DREEM scores of 101–150 and meaning of “More positive than negative’’ with slightly higher score in the medical than dental field. Equal scores in the 5 domines were recorded.