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      ‘Have you seen what is on Facebook?’ The use of social networking software by healthcare professions students

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          Abstract

          Objective

          The use of social networking software has become ubiquitous in our society. The aim of this study was to explore the attitudes and experiences of healthcare professional students using Facebook at our school, to determine if there is a need for development of policy to assist students in this area.

          Design

          A mixed-methods approach was employed, using semistructured interviews to identify themes which were explored using an online survey. A combination of descriptive statistics and thematic analysis was used for analysis.

          Setting

          Healthcare professions education programmes at a large Canadian university.

          Participants

          Students of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, speech and language pathology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, dentistry, dental hygiene and medical laboratory Science were invited to participate. 14 participants were interviewed, and 682 participants responded to an online survey; the female:male balance was 3 : 1.

          Results

          14 interviews were analysed in-depth, and 682 students responded to the survey (17% response rate). 93% reported current Facebook use. Themes identified included patterns of use and attitudes to friendship, attitudes to online privacy, breaches of professional behaviour on Facebook and attitudes to guidelines relating to Facebook use. A majority considered posting of the following material unprofessional: use of alcohol/drugs, crime, obscenity/nudity/sexual content, patient/client information, criticism of others. 44% reported seeing such material posted by a colleague, and 27% reported posting such material themselves. A majority of participants agreed that guidelines for Facebook use would be beneficial.

          Conclusions

          Social networking software use, specifically Facebook use, was widespread among healthcare students at our school who responded to our survey. Our results highlight some of the challenges which can accompany the use of this new technology and offer potential insights to help understand the pedagogy and practices of Facebook use in this population, and to help students navigate the dilemmas associated with becoming 21st century healthcare professionals.

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          Information disclosure and control on Facebook: are they two sides of the same coin or two different processes?

          Serge Desmarais, Amy Muise, Emily Christofides (2009)
          Facebook, the popular social network site, is changing the nature of privacy and the consequences of information disclosure. Despite recent media reports regarding the negative consequences of disclosing information on social network sites such as Facebook, students are generally thought to be unconcerned about the potential costs of this disclosure. The current study explored undergraduate students' information disclosure and information control on Facebook and the personality factors that influence levels of disclosure and control. Participants in this online survey were 343 undergraduate students who were current users of Facebook. Results indicated that participants perceived that they disclosed more information about themselves on Facebook than in general, but participants also reported that information control and privacy were important to them. Participants were very likely to have posted information such as their birthday and e-mail address, and almost all had joined an online network. They were also very likely to post pictures such as a profile picture, pictures with friends, and even pictures at parties and drinking with friends. Contrary to expectations, information disclosure and information control were not significantly negatively correlated, and multiple regression analyses revealed that while disclosure was significantly predicted by the need for popularity, levels of trust and self-esteem predicted information control. Therefore, disclosure and control on Facebook are not as closely related as expected but rather are different processes that are affected by different aspects of personality. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.
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            Understanding the Factors That Influence the Adoption and Meaningful Use of Social Media by Physicians to Share Medical Information

            Brian S McGowan, Molly Wasko, Bryan Vartabedian … (2012)
            Background Within the medical community there is persistent debate as to whether the information available through social media is trustworthy and valid, and whether physicians are ready to adopt these technologies and ultimately embrace them as a format for professional development and lifelong learning. Objective To identify how physicians are using social media to share and exchange medical information with other physicians, and to identify the factors that influence physicians’ use of social media as a component of their lifelong learning and continuing professional development. Methods We developed a survey instrument based on the Technology Acceptance Model, hypothesizing that technology usage is best predicted by a physician’s attitudes toward the technology, perceptions about the technology’s usefulness and ease of use, and individual factors such as personal innovativeness. The survey was distributed via email to a random sample of 1695 practicing oncologists and primary care physicians in the United States in March 2011. Responses from 485 physicians were analyzed (response rate 28.61%). Results Overall, 117 of 485 (24.1%) of respondents used social media daily or many times daily to scan or explore medical information, whereas 69 of 485 (14.2%) contributed new information via social media on a daily basis. On a weekly basis or more, 296 of 485 (61.0%) scanned and 223 of 485 (46.0%) contributed. In terms of attitudes toward the use of social media, 279 of 485 respondents (57.5%) perceived social media to be beneficial, engaging, and a good way to get current, high-quality information. In terms of usefulness, 281 of 485 (57.9%) of respondents stated that social media enabled them to care for patients more effectively, and 291 of 485 (60.0%) stated it improved the quality of patient care they delivered. The main factors influencing a physician’s usage of social media to share medical knowledge with other physicians were perceived ease of use and usefulness. Respondents who had positive attitudes toward the use of social media were more likely to use social media and to share medical information with other physicians through social media. Neither age nor gender had a significant impact on adoption or usage of social media. Conclusions Based on the results of this study, the use of social media applications may be seen as an efficient and effective method for physicians to keep up-to-date and to share newly acquired medical knowledge with other physicians within the medical community and to improve the quality of patient care. Future studies are needed to examine the impact of the meaningful use of social media on physicians’ knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviors in practice.
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              Online posting of unprofessional content by medical students.

              Terry Kind, Jean-Paul Chretien, Katherine C. Chretien … (2009)
              Web 2.0 applications, such as social networking sites, are creating new challenges for medical professionalism. The scope of this problem in undergraduate medical education is not well-defined. To assess the experience of US medical schools with online posting of unprofessional content by students and existing medical school policies to address online posting. An anonymous electronic survey was sent to deans of student affairs, their representatives, or counterparts from each institution in the Association of American Medical Colleges. Data were collected in March and April 2009. Percentage of schools reporting incidents of students posting unprofessional content online, type of professionalism infraction, disciplinary actions taken, existence of institution policies, and plans for policy development. Sixty percent of US medical schools responded (78/130). Of these schools, 60% (47/78) reported incidents of students posting unprofessional online content. Violations of patient confidentiality were reported by 13% (6/46). Student use of profanity (52%; 22/42), frankly discriminatory language (48%; 19/40), depiction of intoxication (39%; 17/44), and sexually suggestive material (38%; 16/42) were commonly reported. Of 45 schools that reported an incident and responded to the question about disciplinary actions, 30 gave informal warning (67%) and 3 reported student dismissal (7%). Policies that cover student-posted online content were reported by 38% (28/73) of deans. Of schools without such policies, 11% (5/46) were actively developing new policies to cover online content. Deans reporting incidents were significantly more likely to report having such a policy (51% vs 18%; P = .006), believing these issues could be effectively addressed (91% vs 63%; P = .003), and having higher levels of concern (P = .02). Many responding schools had incidents of unprofessional student online postings, but they may not have adequate policy in place.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMJ Open
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMJ Open
                Journal ID (hwp): bmjopen
                Journal ID (publisher-id): bmjopen
                Title: BMJ Open
                Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group (BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JR )
                ISSN (Electronic): 2044-6055
                Publication date Collection: 2013
                Publication date (Electronic): 23 July 2013
                Volume: 3
                Issue: 7
                Electronic Location Identifier: e003013
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Department of Surgery, University of Alberta , Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
                [2 ]Department of Family Medicine, University of Alberta , Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
                [3 ]Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta , Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
                Author notes
                [Correspondence to ] Dr Jonathan White; jswhite1@ 123456ualberta.ca

                Previously presented at the 2012 Canadian Conference on Medical Education and published in abstract form as: Facebook Use By Healthcare Students And Faculty: Do We Need Guidelines For Online Professionalism? P Kirwan, J White, S Ross. Med Educ 2012; 46(Suppl 1):53

                Article
                Publisher ID: bmjopen-2013-003013
                DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-003013
                PMC ID: 3731743
                PubMed ID: 23883886
                SO-VID: b8c769aa-9c58-4bf0-b669-1e0f81fd5fe3
                Copyright © Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions
                License:

                This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 3.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

                History
                Date received : 7 April 2013
                Date revision received : 19 May 2013
                Date accepted : 20 May 2013
                Categories
                Subject: Medical Education and Training
                Subject: Research
                Subject: 1506
                Subject: 1709
                Subject: 1709

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Medicine
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Medicine

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