Practical application and evaluation of an integrated training pathway for mental health literacy and clinical communication skills for undergraduate dental students based on simulation-based training

TL;DR

This study shows that simulation-based training improves dental students' mental health literacy and communication skills more effectively than traditional teaching methods.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel 5-module simulation-based training pathway for dental students to enhance mental health literacy and clinical communication.

Findings

The intervention group outperformed the control group in mental health literacy and communication assessments.

Emotional recognition and communication effectiveness were strong predictors of clinical integration ability.

The training improved psychological resilience and clinical performance in dental students.

Abstract

To construct and evaluate a comprehensive training pathway based on simulated operation training to improve the mental health literacy and clinical communication skills of junior dental undergraduate students.

A quasi-randomized controlled pre-post mixed-methods design was used, with 60 lower-year dental students enrolled. The intervention group received 5-module training (VR scenario cognition, stress regulation, simulation integration, standardized patient communication, reflective reinforcement), while the control group received conventional teaching. Assessments were conducted at T0 (baseline), T1 (post-Module 3), T2 (post-Module 5), and T3 (1 month post-internship) using tools including DANVA-2, MHL-Q, SEGUE, JSE-HP, and CD-RISC-10.

At T3, the intervention group showed significantly higher scores than the control group: DANVA-2 accuracy (80.7% ± 6.1% vs. 66.2% ± 6.5%, Cohen’s d = 2.31), MHL-Q (71.1 ± 4.8 vs. 60.8 ± 5.4, d = 2.05), SEGUE (80.9 ± 5.9 vs. 67.2 ± 6.0, d = 2.28), and CD-RISC-10 (28.4 ± 3.5 vs. 23.2 ± 3.7, d = 1.46) (all p < 0.05). Emotional recognition (OR = 1.12, 95%CI: 1.06–1.18) and communication effectiveness (OR = 1.15, 95%CI: 1.09–1.21) independently predicted clinical integration ability.

The simulation-based training pathway improves dental students’ MHL, CC skills, and psychological resilience, and correlates with better clinical performance, providing empirical support for dental education.

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