Collaborative attitudes and trust among medical and dental professionals in Saudi Arabia

by Khalid Aboalshamat, Emad Alzahrani, Anas Maqlan, Adel Almatrafi, Abdulaziz Alsulami

Background

Interprofessional collaboration involves coordinated efforts by individuals from different professions. Trust is defined as an individual’s willingness to be vulnerable within a relationship, while expecting the other party to act in their best interests. This study aimed to assess the attitudes of collaboration and trust among dental and medical professionals in Saudi Arabia.

Materials and methods

This cross-sectional study evaluated the attitudes of collaboration and trust among dental and medical professionals in Saudi Arabia using an online self-reported questionnaire distributed via social media. Data analysis was performed using SPSS.

Results

The overall mean score for collaborative attitude was 6.2 (SD  =  1.52), with 69.23% of participants exhibiting a positive attitude about collaboration. Participants rated family medicine (76.67%) and pediatric medicine (76.41%) as the medical specialties most relevant to dentistry, while obstetrics/gynecology was rated the lowest (32.31%). Dental professionals had a significantly higher mean score for collaborative attitude (m  =  6.46, SD  =  1.48) than did medical professionals (m  =  5.93, SD  =  1.51; p < 0.001). The score for dental professionals’ trust in medical professionals (DTM) (m  =  36.94, SD  =  8.06) was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than the score for medical professionals’ trust in dental professionals (MTD) (m  =  33.81, SD  =  8.20). The collaborative attitude scores among dental and medical professionals were not statistically significant when tested against the MTD score (p  =  0.777) and DTM score (p  =  0.419).

Conclusions

There is a high level of collaborative attitude and trust between dental and medical professionals in Saudi Arabia. Dentists exhibit a higher degree of these attributes than medical professionals. These findings support the implementation of a collaborative medical–dental education framework in Saudi Arabia, where both specialties can train together during their undergraduate years.