Dental Students’ Perceptions of Learning Environment in Guilan University of Medical Sciences

Background and aim: This study aimed to assess dentistry students' understanding of the educational environment of Guilan University of Medical Sciences in two Basic and clinical fields. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in the academic year of 2016-17 at the Faculty of Dentistry, Guilan University of Medical Sciences. For this purpose, a sample of 190 students was selected in both the primary and clinical fields. Assess the learning environment, DREEM's Assessment Questionnaire (DREEM) questionnaire consisted of 50 questions in 5 areas of learning, professors, student perception of their ability, educational background, and student perception of their social status. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Mann-Whitney test in SPSS Ver 16 software. Results: The findings showed that the average total score of educational and learning environments in the Basic Section was 108.22 in the maximum of 200, and the Clinical Section was 111.03, which means a favorable threshold. In Basic Section, the lowest average score was 15.28 for self-social understanding, and the highest score was 26.09 for the educational atmosphere, while in the Clinical Section, the lowest and the highest mean scores were 15.81and 26.56 related to the same field of Basic Section. Conclusion: The results showed that the perception of students at two different levels of Basic Science and Clinical Section from the educational environment is favorable, but more attention of the faculty members to reducing the stress of the environment and creating an appropriate environment is essential.