Ergonomic work posture in undergraduate dentistry students: Correlation between theory and practice

Context: The presence of theoretical knowledge on ergonomics, as well as its practical application, is very important to prevent musculoskeletal disorders. Aims: Correlating between the theoretical knowledge of ergonomic posture and its practical application among dentistry students, as well as between the students′ theoretical knowledge and their practical self-assessment. Settings and Design: Sixty second-year graduate students of Araraquara Dental School, UNESP were evaluated. Subjects and Methods: Each student responded to a multiple-choice questionnaire on the requirements of ergonomic posture and received a score (0-10 points). To analyze the practical implementation of work posture and the self-assessment, photographs were taken of students performing laboratory procedures. To assess the practical application, each procedure was assessed by a calibrated researcher (ρ =0.78) and received a score (0-10 points). For the self-assessment, each student analyzed the photographs of their own posture and received a score (0-10 points). The theoretical knowledge and the self-assessment practice were corrected by the researcher. Statistical Analysis: A descriptive statistical analysis was performed. The correlation between theoretical knowledge and practical application and between theoretical knowledge and self-assessment were estimated using Pearson′s correlation coefficient (r), and the significance was tested using Student′s t-test. The level of significance was set at 5%. Results: There was no correlation between theoretical knowledge and practical application (r = 0.100, P = 0.450) nor between theoretical knowledge and the practical self-assessment score (r = 0.067, P = 0.623). Conclusions: The theoretical knowledge of students on ergonomics was greater than its practical application and their self-assessment, and there was no correlation between them.