Teaching Cultural Awareness to Dental Hygiene Students Through Project Based Learning

I implemented a cultural awareness project (CAP) to enhance dental hygiene students’ understanding of diverse cultural needs and beliefs related to oral health. This 2-year quality assurance project aimed to assess student perceptions of the CAP. Two cohorts of 23 junior students each participated. I collected data via post-project surveys adapted from the Student Evaluation of Educational Quality (SEEQ) instrument after obtaining Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval and consent. Both cohorts (n = 23 each) demonstrated positive perceptions of the CAP, with mean scores of 4.9 and 4.8, respectively (p = .024). These data suggest that the CAP effectively broadened students’ cultural awareness and enhanced their learning experience.