Research on dental laboratory technician's image perceived by health allied college students

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the image and the awareness of dental laboratory technicians in health allied college students. Methods: The subject of this research are 431 health-related major students who are selected by convenience sampling from Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, Chungcheong-do, Jeolla-do and Gyeongsang-do. After a survey was conducted, the answer sheets from 401 respondents were analyzed except for 30 incomplete ones. The collected data is statistically analyzed by SPSS(Statistical Packages for Social Science 12.0. SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Results: The findings of the study were as follows: As a result of general awareness about dental laboratory technicians, the health allied college students knew 83.0% about dental laboratory technician as a job. Respondents showed high recognition about dental laboratory technician as a job( $3.62{\pm}0.31$ ), which showed that the health allied college students took a favorable view of dental laboratory in general. There were significant difference in dental laboratory technician image with age, gender(P<.05). Conclusion: It is required to develop programs such as proactive public relations or campaign via mass media that could enhance the public recognition about dental laboratory technician up to one of professional as required. It is also necessary that dental laboratory technicians make steady efforts for self-development to enhance their own job philosophy and skills in the level of quality, while they need various educations for building up their own favorable personality and positive ideas.