Viewpoints of the Faculty Members and Students Regarding Evaluation of the Soft Skills in Admission of Dentistry Students Dental Students’ admission

Nowadays, in the healthcare professions, evaluation of the soft skills is taken into account during student admission process. However, in the Iranian academic society, student admission is only based on scientific criteria and soft skills are not considered in accepting the students. Considering the significance of soft skills in the quality of dental care performance, this study was conducted to clarify viewpoints of the faculty members and students regarding evaluation of the soft skills in dental students admission. The statistical population of this qualitative descriptive study consisted of the faculty members and dental students of Isfahan and Mazandaran Universities of Medical Sciences. The participants were selected through the purposive sampling method. The Data of the study were collected through semi-structured interviewsand data analysis was performed using conventional content analysis method. Analysis of the recorded interviews of the participants in this study resulted in two main categories, namely the theoretical context of soft skills evaluation in admission of dental students and the practical context of soft skills evaluation in admission of dental students. In the theoretical context, most faculty members and dental students had favorable views of the need for soft skills evaluation in admission of dental students. Moreover, Regarding the practical context, the individuals pointed out several cultural-social challenges, such as the reduced justice and increased favoritism in admitting the students. In addition, they mentioned some executive challenges, including the difficulty of evaluating the soft skills, lack of soft skills training in pre-university education, and competence of the evaluators. According to the results of this study, the participants expressed favorable views concerning evaluation of the soft skills during submission of dentistry students. Therefore, we recommend that the dental education planners provide appropriate practical context in coordination with the training measurement organization to evaluate the soft skills in admitting dental students by designing and implementing comprehensive research.