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A Case Study Investigating Dental Hygiene Program Directors’ Perspectives of Crisis Leadership During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Department: Educational Leadership
ResourceLengthWidthThickness
Paper000
Specimen Elements
Pocatello
Unknown to Unknown
Leciel Bono
Idaho State University
Dissertation
No
6/25/2025
digital
City: Pocatello
Doctorate
The purpose of the study was to identify dental hygiene education program directors’ perspectives of crisis leadership and how they used prepared leadership during crises to navigate periods of uncertainty. The study research questions focused on the preparedness of dental hygiene program directors to navigate current and future crises, what practices and procedures are needed to manage crises, what obstacles impact crises, and how crisis leadership strategies are currently being used in dental hygiene programs. This study explored crisis leadership through the framework of Prepared Leadership (PL). The research design for this study was a qualitative case study exploratory design. Interviews were conducted via Zoom and transcribed using the closed caption feature. Participants used a pseudonym for confidentiality. Respondent validation, memoing, multiple coding strategies, and saturation were used to establish validity and trustworthiness. Interview data were coded using open coding, and theme emergence occurred by using memoing, deductive priori coding, and two inductive coding cycles one of which was weighted. Twelve program directors from 2-year dental hygiene programs and 12 program directors from 4-year programs were interviewed. Five themes emerged for both groups: Organizational Elements, Faculty Challenges, Relations, Disasters, and Student Affairs. Each theme had subthemes. The subthemes that emerged for the Organizational Elements theme were Administrative Bureaucracy, Leadership, Operational Approach, Enrollment, and Accreditation. The subthemes for Faculty Challenges were Faculty Development and Advanced Technology. Relations subthemes were Communication and Synergy. The Disasters theme yielded Pandemic, Manpower Shortages, Violence (4-year programs only), and Professional. Subthemes for the Student Affairs theme were Student Preparation and Mental Health. The additional round of weighted coding was implemented with crisis responses using the PL framework. Results indicated that program directors were not actively using PL strategies. Crisis management was employed to confront crises. Crises were considered to be everyday occurrences and included navigating higher education bureaucracy, faculty development, communication and team building, disaster management, and student development. This research highlighted a critical gap in crisis leadership preparedness and training. Crisis leadership training using the PL framework is recommended. Key Words: crisis leadership, prepared leadership, qualitative research, strategic resilience, crisis management

A Case Study Investigating Dental Hygiene Program Directors’ Perspectives of Crisis Leadership During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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