Abstract
Objective: To explore the perceptions of Pakistani parents about dentistry as a career option for their pre
medical group children.
Study Design:Qualitative study.
th th Place and Duration of Study: Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Mirpur AJK and Lahore, 30 December 2014 to 15 August
2015.
Materials and Methods: Constructivist grounded theory approach was used as methodology. Data was
collected from parents of pre-medical students (FSc, A-level) using purposive and convenient sampling
method. In-depth semi-structured interviews were used as data collection tool. Data was analyzed using
Constant comparative method for thematic content analysis. Computer Aided Qualitative Data Analysis
Software NVivo was used for data analysis and management.
Results: Five major themes including, awareness in society, value in society, job opportunities, knowledge and
balanced personal and professional life emerged from the data. Themes were broadly classified as
sociocultural, socioeconomic and personal themes and helped in conceptualizing and generating “butterfly
theory of career choice”. Majority of parents perceived dentistry career as having lack of awareness and social
acceptance.
Conclusion: In developing countries such as Pakistan, awareness of oral health is lacking and scope of dentistry
is not as much as in foreign countries. So, parents overwhelmingly prefer medicine as a career choice for their
children, rather than dentistry which they think is not as valuable in the society.
