M E M O R A N D U M 
 
 
 
 

To:     Professional Development Leave Committee 

From: Kit Hopkinson 

RE:     Spring Term Leave, 2002 
 

I was able to accomplish the following on my Spring term 2002 leave: Enroll and complete three non-resident continuing education classes through the University of Washington School of Dentistry.  Those three courses are Oral Self Care, Children Mal-Treatment, and Treating Fearful Dental Patients.

All the courses required reading texts, viewing videos, and taking an exam.  I received 24 continuing-education credits for completing these courses.  All courses relate directly to didactic material I am currently teaching.  Content from the Oral Self Care course will be incorporated in the 1st-year Dental Hygiene lecture course (DH120) spring term.  Subject matter from the “Child Maltreatment class will be shared in the  Trends and Issues class which is taught in the 2nd-year curriculum spring term.  The course, Treating Fearful Patients, prepared me to work actively in the Dental Fears & Phobias Clinic at the University of Washington School of Dentistry.

I spent the remainder of the leave participating as a visiting scholar in the Dental Fears Clinic at the UW.  As preparation for working in the Clinic, I read several texts and periodicals relating to current research on treating fearful dental patients.  I watched numerous videotapes which demonstrated psychological diagnosis and treatment strategies used by the Fears Clinic.   
 

During my time in the Fears and Phobias Clinic, I was present and participated in all initial assessment interviews with new patients.  These interviews determined specific behavioral treatments to be used with individual fears patients. 

Because there is no dental hygiene school at the University of Washington, I was invited by the fears clinical faculty to interact with 4th-year dental students as they came to complete courses in the fears clinic.  Discussion included current philosophy of dental hygiene practice and how this could influence their dental practices. 

Lastly, I collaborated with one of the fears clinic psychologists on how best to integrate all information and hands-on practice I acquired into our dental hygiene program at Lane, to benefit the faculty and students.  The specific strategies I will be teach include the physical skills of breathing, muscle relaxation, physiological monitoring, and biofeedback.  The cognitive strategies include practicing relaxing the mind, creating alternative expectations, and using distraction & imagery.  Other strategies are the practice of using graduated exposure, rehearsals, and desensitization.

This leave was a resounding success.  I received valuable, realistic, current and relevant theory, and many clinically-practiced techniques.