Practice belief scales among private general dental practitioners.

BACKGROUND: Practice beliefs have been related to service rate variation. The aims of this study were to replicate practice belief scales in Australia and investigate associations with dentist and practice characteristics and services.

METHODS: A random sample of Australian dentists completed mailed questionnaires (response rate 60.3 per cent).

RESULTS: Private general practitioners (n = 345) provided service data from a typical day. Eight practice belief items were recorded on a five-point Likert scale, yielding four factor-based scales. Approximately 85 per cent of responses were on the agreement side of the midpoint for the scales of Information giving and Patient influence, 45 per cent for Preventive orientation and approximately 10 per cent for Controlling active disease rather than developing better preventive advice. Capital city dentists had higher agreement with the Preventive orientation scale, while males and older dentists showed less disagreement with the Controlling active disease item (Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis P < 0.05). Those agreeing with the scales (that is scores < or = the median) showed (Poisson regression P < 0.05): a higher rate of crown and bridge, a rate ratio (RR) of 1.31, but lower rates of extraction (RR = 0.76) and prosthodontic services (RR = 0.64) for the Information giving scale; a higher rate of restorative (RR = 1.22) and total services per visit (RR = 1.06) for the Preventive orientation scale; a higher rate of preventive services (RR = 1.14), but a lower rate of crown and bridge services (0.78) for the Patient influence scale; and higher rates of crown and bridge (RR = 1.40) and prosthodontic (RR = 1.59) but lower rates of periodontic (RR = 0.60) and extraction services (RR = 0.62) for the Controlling active disease item.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings confirm the factor structure of practice beliefs and demonstrate small to moderate associations with variation in service rates.