Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the autonomy of dental hygiene students after clinical practice and their satisfaction with the clinical practice in an effort to determine how to manage courses in need of practice and how to provide education and guidance on clinical practice. A survey was conducted on the students in a three-year college in Gyeonggi Province, and the data from 295 respondents were analyzed. The findings of the study were as follows: 1. As for autonomy, the subjects got a mean of 3.60 in respect for others, and 3.40 in respect for themselves. 2. In regard to satisfaction with clinical practice, they gave the highest score of 3.58 to the content of the clinical practice, and they gave the lowest score of 3.09 to practice hours. 3. They gave higher scores to autonomy of clinical practice when their awareness of dental hygienist at the time of college admission and after experiencing the clinical practice was better and when they were more satisfied with their major. 4. They gave the highest scores to satisfaction with the clinical practice when they voluntarily chose the department of dental hygiene in terms of motivation for major selection, when their awareness of dental hygiene at the time of college admission and after experiencing the clinical practice was better and when they were more satisfied with their major. 5. The students who gave higher scores to autonomy of the clinical practice were more satisfied with the practice.
