Abstract
In 1980 the American Academy of Periodontology published the results of its first major survey of practice characteristics in the Journal of Periodontology. That first study arose from membership concerns about the lack of knowledge about career patterns of periodontists and, more specifically, about employment opportunities for graduating periodontists. Three years later, the Committee on Practice Styles and Opportunities in Periodontics was appointed to replicate the earlier study in order to provide information on recent changes in the practice of periodontics. This decision is commendable since few dental specialty organizations collect data from their membership which can be systematically compared to data from an earlier study. The Academy's Committee contacted David O. Born, PhD, a dental manpower specialist at the University of Minnesota and a technical advisor on the earlier study, for assistance in conducting a replication in 1984. Based on feedback on the first survey and on comments and suggestions from committee members, a revised questionnaire was developed. This questionnaire was, for the most part, a replication of the earlier survey instrument, although several problematic items were deleted or modified and new items, reflecting more recent concerns, were added. The revised questionnaire was distributed in the Spring of 1984 through two mailings to 2937 Active members and 798 Affiliate members. After unusable and undeliverable questionnaires were deleted from the returns, an effective response rate of 55% (N = 2082) was obtained. This report is based on the information supplied by those 2082 members. In the tables and text which follow, the figures reported at the national level refer to "Private practice" periodontists responding to the survey; Academy members who are a part of the Federal services (e.g., Military, Veterans' Administration, Indian Health Service, etc.) are tabulated separately as "District 8" data. While several members from foreign countries responded to the survey, their data have not been included since the information was too dispersed to permit conclusions to be drawn.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 651-661 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Journal of periodontology |
Volume | 56 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 1985 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The research was supported by grants AM24171 and HL22479 from the National Institutes of Health and CRC grant RR00833, and by grants-in-aid from the American Heart Association (California affiliate) and the Cooley’s Anemia Foundation of New York. J. L. was supported by a Scripps institu- tional research fellowship. We thank Dr E. Beutler, Dr H. Carloss, Dr D. Cowan, Dr W. H. Crosby, Dr R. McMillan, Dr E. Rosenbaum, and Dr D. Schwartz for allowing us to study patients under their care. We also thank Shirley Hosier, R.N. and the nursing staff of the General Clinical Research Centre of Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation for their assistance during these studies.