Iranian Journal of Medical Education

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Abstract Introduction: Career choice is one of the most important decisions every individual makes in his life. Meanwhile, choosing dentistry as a job should be accomplished with more precise considerations because changing this job is rarely possible. Thereby, this study was done to determine important factors in choosing dentistry among first and second year dentistry students in Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2005. Methods: All first and second year dentistry students from Kerman School of Dentistry (n=52) participated in this descriptive study. A valid and reliable questionnaire asking about students’ demographic characteristics and their motivations for entering dentistry was distributed as group administered. The result was analyzed by Mann-Whitney U test along using SPSS 11.5. Results: The most important motivation for choosing dentistry was “relationship with people”, whereas manual working was the least important motive. Male students were more likely to be motivated by income while female students were more likely to be influenced by their parents' advice. Conclusion: Relationship with people has a high position in dentistry profession. Therefore, dentistry is considered as a social job. Since, income is an important factor for male students compared to females, this factor can be used for encouraging male students to choose dentistry as their profession.

Keywords: Dental students, Motivation, Career choice.

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