CONTEXT: The ergonomic posture protocol is extremely important for the maintenance of
occupational health in dentistry. The lack of compliance with this protocol results in a high risk of
developing musculoskeletal disorders.
AIMS: This study developed a direct observation method for the evaluation of dental student
compliance with ergonomic posture protocol.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The method is named compliance assessment of dental ergonomic
posture requirements (CADEP). During the development of the method, 14 items were elaborated
considering the theory of dental ergonomics. Each item should be classified as appropriate, partially
appropriate, or inappropriate. After evaluation, all item values should be added, and the final score
expressed as the percent of compliance with correct postures, with a score range of 0%–100%.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: The reliability of CADEP was assessed through intra‑ and
interobserver reproducibility. For the CADEP application, 73 senior year students from the
undergraduate course in dentistry were evaluated. The intra‑ and interexaminer concordance
was estimated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ρ). A descriptive statistical analysis was
performed.
RESULTS: The reproducibility of evaluator 1 (ρ =0.90; confidence interval [CI] 95%: 0.83–0.94),
evaluator 2 (ρ = 0.83; CI 95%: 0.70–0.90), the interexaminer in the first evaluation (ρ = 0.81; CI
95%:0.67–0.89), and in the second one (ρ = 0.76; CI 95%: 0.59–0.87) was classified as good. In the
analysis of the compliance, it was verified that moderate compliance was the most prevalent among
the evaluated students (65.6%, CI 95%: 60.3%–70.7%).
CONCLUSIONS: CADEP was valid and reliable for the assessment of dentistry students’ compliance
regarding ergonomic posture requirements.