Students in many fields have been found to learn more the more they are engaged in both the academic and social aspects of the learning experience. The aims of this study were to determine the level of dental hygiene students' engagement in their educational programs and in student chapters of the American Dental Hygienists' Association (ADHA) and to assess the relationship of that engagement to students' success as measured by cumulative GPA. All 12,000 dental hygiene students (6,000 in the first year and 6,000 in the second year of two-year programs) enrolled in the 334 accredited U.S. dental hygiene programs were invited to participate in the survey. The ADHA electronically distributed the survey on behalf of the researcher to the students in February 2015. The response rate was 22% (N=2,649); the respondents had a survey completion rate of 94%. Three positive predictors were found to influence student success. The higher the responding students rated the quality of interactions with their faculty members and with their program directors, the higher was their mean GPA. In addition, holding a higher education degree was found to be a significant predictor of academic success. This study's results provide dental hygiene educators with a better understanding of how dental hygiene student engagement relates to academic achievement and may encourage faculty members to improve their strategies for delivering instruction. Future research should review enhanced student engagement practices as they relate to student success.
Keywords: allied dental education; dental hygiene; dental hygiene education; dental hygiene students; student engagement.