Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding Professional Ethics Among Dentists in Benghazi, Libya: A Cross-Sectional Study of Associated Demographic and Professional Factors

Abstract

Professional ethics is one of the major elements in the practice of dentistry and plays an important role in terms of safety and integrity of the profession. Nevertheless, there is limited literature on the knowledge, attitude, and ethical practices of dentists in Libya. This study sought to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and ethical practices among dentists working in Benghazi, Libya, and explore their relationships with certain demographic and professional factors. This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out among 65 dentists in Benghazi, Libya. Data were collected through a structured, self-administered, online questionnaire comprising demographic characteristics, ethical knowledge, attitude towards professional ethics, and ethical practices. Descriptive statistics were performed, and relationships between categorical variables were analyzed using the Chi-Square test/Fisher’s Exact test depending on the suitability of the data. The significance level was set at P < 0.05. Of all the dentists in the study, 47.7% showed good ethical knowledge, 38.5% had fair knowledge, and 13.8% showed poor knowledge. The majority of the participants had positive ethical attitudes (69.2%), whereas 24.6% had neutral attitudes, and 6.2% had negative attitudes. Regarding the practice aspect, 30.8% of the dentists showed proper ethical practices, 47.7% showed right practices, and 21.5% had wrong practices. Ethical knowledge, attitudes, and practices were significantly correlated with several demographic and professional factors, which include age, years of professional experience, educational qualifications, and previous participation in professional ethics workshops. The above results show that despite the fact that most of the dentists showed positive attitudes towards professional ethics, there are still some shortcomings in ethical knowledge and practice. Therefore, it is important to improve undergraduate ethics training as well as continue professional development among dentists in Libya. Multicenter studies should be conducted to confirm these results.