임상 치과위생사의 공감능력, 전문직관과 임상수행능력과의 관계

Relationship among Empathy Competence, Professionalism and Clinical Performance Ability in Clinical Dental Hygienists

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the relationships among empathy competence, dental hygiene professionalism, and clinical performance ability in clinical dental hygienists, and to identify the factors that influence clinical performance ability. Methods: This study was conducted from July 1 to August 30, 2025, targeting dental hygienists with at least one year of experience working at dental clinics, dental hospitals, and university hospitals in the Gyeongnam and Busan regions. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, one-way ANOVA with Scheffé post-hoc tests, Pearson’s correlations, and stepwise multiple regression (p<0.05). Results: The dental hygienists showed average scores of 3.33 for empathy, 3.70 for professional identity, and 3.88 for clinical performance ability. The factors that significantly influenced their clinical performance ability were desk work (β= .116, p= .006), professional identity (β= .425, p= .000), and empathy (β= -.207, p= .001). Conclusions: Clinical performance ability among dental hygienists was significantly associated with the factors such asof professional identity, empathy, and department of work, with professional identity showing the strongest positive influence. In contrast, empathy had a negative impact on clinical performance ability, indicating the a need for further exploration of this dynamic relationship. Future studies should incorporate various psychological and environmental factors, such as emotional intelligence, and conduct repeated research to clarify the causal relationships among these variables.