Evaluation of Health-Related Quality of Life among GeneralDentists

This study was carried out to evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among general dentists. HRQOL was measured using the Persian version of the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). This cross-sectional study was conducted on general dentists in Kermanshah, 2014. Data were analyzed by SPSS-17, using t-test (P<0.05). The response rate was reported to be 91.6% (186/203). A total of 186 general dentists, 135 males (72.6%) and 51 females (%27.4) with mean age of 41.5±7.8 years participated in the study. The findings showed that the general dentists had a high quality life (69.6±14.7). The scores of physical and mental health component summaries were 70.1±18.3 and 63.1±16.9, respectively. The scores of domains varied from 86.5±16.3for physical functioning to 51.1±19.7 for public health. Higher HRQOL scores were significantly associated with younger age, single, lower work experience, and general health condition (P<0.05).However gender displayed no significant effect on HRQOL (P=0.822). General dentists showed an appropriate health-related quality of life. However, dentists with systemic diseases had low HRQOL. Accordingly, coping strategies are required to be implemented in order to achieve a better HRQOL.