International Journal of Oral Health Dentistry

Classification of patients seeking dental care using Discriminant Analysis

Full Text PDF Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Author Details: Neetika Thukral

Volume : 1

Issue : 3

Online ISSN : 2395-499X

Print ISSN : 2395-4914

Article First Page : 125

Article End Page : 127

Abstract

Objective:

1. To classify patients seeking preventive or curative dental care and determining factors important to classify them using discriminant analysis.

2. To determine factors considered important by patients for choosing a dentist and to determine most important factors considered by patients using factor analysis.

Methods: An exploratory research design was used to get insights to develop the attributes for classifying dental patients seeking dental care either preventive or curative care using discriminant analysis, conducted in few private hospitals and clinics in Delhi and NCR region. The study is largely based on the primary data collected from respondents using questionnaires. Second part of the study is FACTOR ANALYSIS for determining factors considered most important for choosing a dentist amongst various factors studied or surveyed using SPSS software. Fourteen variables were grouped into components and correlation between various variables was studied. Factors were identified which explained correlation amongst set of variables.

Conclusion: Amongst all predictor variables - AGE, INCOME, DISTANCE and ATTITUDE TOWARDS DENTAL TREATMENT, were variables responsible for discriminating between dependent variables .i.e., preventive and curative dental care. i.e., amongst all predictor variables.

 

Keywords: Predictor variables, Exploratory study, Dependent Variables, Independent Variables, Preventive care, Curative care, Discriminant Analysis, Factor Analysis.