‘People form their own support systems – like forming their own families’: the role of parents and friends in the first year at dental school

This study examined the role that parents and friends play in the transition to university and in the first academic year. The study examines the mechanisms of this support so as to understand the ways in which support is provided. It examines whether – and if so, how – support mechanisms differed for first?generation students and those with family familiarity of university. Data were collected through focus group and individual interviews with dentistry students in their first and second academic years at a Faculty of Dentistry in South Africa. Concepts from psychology literature – attachment and friendship quality – provided the analytical framework. Findings from the study suggest that the social relationships which students have access to during the transition and the first a…
MedWorm: Dentistry