Política de estímulo à iniciação científica: impacto no coeficiente de rendimento de graduandos em Odontologia

This observational, case-control type study evaluated the impact of participation in a Research Mentorship Program (RMP) on the academic performance coefficient (PC) of undergraduates of a dentistry course. Students from a private higher education institution (HEI) located in Campinas (SP) were divided into two groups: case (CGs; who participated in the RMP between 2013 and 2016) and control (CTGs, enrolled students and/or graduates who met the inclusion criteria). The PC of the participants was calculated, considering the study hours of the subjects. Those of the CGs were based on the semesters prior to participation in the RMP and those taught concurrently or after first participation in the program. For the CTGs all semesters studied were considered. A total of 58 students were linked to the RMP, with 15.5% (9) in the 1st edition (2013-2014); 27.6% (16) in the 2nd (2014-2015); 29.3% (17) in the 3rd (2015-2016) and 27.6% (16) in the 4th edition (2016-2017). A total of 60 students were randomly selected for inclusion in the CTG. It was found that there was a significant increase in the calculated PCs of the CGs (p<0.0001, paired t test) from before (7.73 ± 0.49) to after the RMP (7.89 ± 0.46). CG students had a higher PC than students of the CTG (7.45 ± 0.56), both before and after their participation in the RMP (p<0.0001, one sample t-test) ). It can be concluded that research mentorship stimulus through the establishing of academic programs makes a difference to the scholastic performance of the participants.