Understanding dental students' use of feedback.

Introduction: Feedback can enhance learning and is thought to be highly valued by students; however, it is not clear from the literature how dental students actually use feedback.

Aim: This study aimed to explore how dental students use feedback in a variety of contexts.

Methods: Qualitative methods involving audio-recorded focus groups were used to explore the use of feedback by undergraduate dental students studying at three UK dental schools. A purposive sampling strategy was used to ensure diverse representation across the undergraduate dental programmes in each of the schools.

Results: Six focus groups, involving a total of 72 students, were undertaken. Thematic analysis identified five main themes relating to the use of feedback: value, future applicability, accessibility, variability and understanding. The inter-connectivity and interaction of the themes (along with their subthemes) were used to develop a model for optimising feedback with the aim of enhancing its potential use by students.

Conclusion: The use of feedback by students would appear to be strongly influenced by several factors. Understanding these factors and how they interlink may be helpful to education providers who are seeking to optimise their feedback processes.