The effect of parenthood on the clinician’s empathy and behavior guidance technique preferences among pediatric dentists

Purpose: To assess the effect of parenthood on the clinician's empathy and behavior guidance practices among pediatric dentists. Methods: A web-based questionnaire was sent to all registered pediatric dentists in the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry through the AAPD mailing list. The questionnaire consisted of three main components, the sociodemographic data of the participants including age, gender, years of clinical experience, marital status, having children and number of children if applicable. The second section was designed to assess the clinician’s empathy. The final part contained multiple choice questions of the dentist’s past and current behavior guidance technique utilization. Results: A total of 432 responses were received. Parent pediatric dentists demonstrated significantly better compassionate care than non-parent dentists. Female participants showed statistically significantly higher scores in overall empathy, and compassionate care. Furthermore, pediatric dentists report better comfortability with behavior guidance techniques after having children. Conclusion: Parenthood may impact the pediatric dentists’ compassionate care; however, it does not seem to have an effect on his/her overall empathy. Moreover, having children may increase the level of comfort in practicing behavior guidance techniques except for Tell, Show, Do.