| Summary: | Aim: To develop a Guideline to define professionalism for implementation at the dental school in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. To investigate the effect of gender and socioeconomic status on the perception of professionalism. To propose a course outline to teach professionalism to be implemented in the dental curriculum. Method: A qualitative and quantitative study was designed to formulate Guidelines for professionalism in the Kingdom. Three Expert Panels (EXP) and nine focus groups (FG) were conducted of dental assistants, 5th and 6th year students, interns, postgraduate students, and faculty members at King Abdulaziz University Faculty of Dentistry (KAUFD). A latent content analysis of the qualitative data was carried out, according to the themes from EXP and FG, a questionnaire was formulated and given to all dental assistant diploma students, 5th and 6th year dental students, interns, postgraduate students, and faculty members at KAUFD. Exploratory Factor Analysis was used to explore the interrelationships between the variables to provide a Professionalism Guideline. Independent t-test and Analysis of Variance (AN OVA) were also used to explore differences between the groups. Results: A total of 389 participants returned the final questionnaires, while 14 and 65 participants were involved in EXP and FG respectively. Analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data revealed a five factor model for the Professionalism Guideline; these titles include: Humanism, Values and Excellence, Competence to Practise, Accountability, Responsibility, and Commitment, Duty to Patient, and Intrapersonal Professionalism. Females showed most differences, viewing 27 elements as more important than the males; dental students viewed 39 of the professionalism elements as less important than the other four groups. Conclusion: Professionalism Guideline obtained through this study is not dissimilar to those found in the literature. Our study concludes that, in the absence of a valid Guideline for professionalism and rapid implementation of a curriculum to teach and assess professionalism in dental schools, dental education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia could be compromised.
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