The willingness of general dental practitioners to treat people with handicapping conditions: the Hong Kong experience

Abstract

A study was carried out to assess the willingness of general dental practitioners in Hong Kong to treat patients with handicaps. A questionnaire and practitioner scale were developed and circulated to 400 general dental practitioners of which 250 responded giving a response rate of 62.5%. The majority of practitioners (59.6%) saw between one and five patients with handicaps per year; 15.6% saw none at all. The mean score was 33.68 (SD=9.19) on a scale with a range from 0 to 60. The observed mean score, which was just over the halfway mark, indicated a slightly positive feeling for treating people with handicaps. Cronbach’s alpha for the scale was 0.67 for the raw variables. Cronbach’s alpha was sufficiently high to indicate a reliable scale for the population under investigation. It was found that although general dental practitioners were relatively enthusiastic about treating people with handicaps they felt it was not economically viable to do so. There was also a strong feeling that government should play a more prominent role in provision of dental care for this group.