Medical students’ and residents’ use of online social networking tools: Implications for teaching professionalism in medical education

Author(s):  
Richard E Ferdig ◽  
Kara Dawson ◽  
Erik W Black ◽  
Nicole M. Paradise Black ◽  
Lindsay A. Thompson

This study sought to determine if and how 501 medical students and 312 residents are using Facebook at a large university in the Southeastern United States. Results reveal that medical students and residents are using Facebook and about two-thirds of users maintain public profiles. While there is variation in the types of information provide within profiles, many medical students seem unaware of or unconcerned with the possible ramifications of sharing personal information in publicly-available online profiles even though such information could impact their professional lives. Thus, this study provides data based evidence that online tools such as social networking sites should become a part of the dialogue related to preparing future physicians to meet the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGE) professionalism competency.

First Monday ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Fullwood ◽  
Mike Thelwall ◽  
Sam O'Neill

With the increasing popularity of social networking sites, it has become relatively common for Internet users to develop an online presence via a personal profile page. Moreover, some chat rooms allow members to develop profile pages too. As a potential first point of contact, effective profile construction may play a pivotal role in the management of first impressions. Identity construction in profiles seems to be particularly important for chat room users, because they are often likely to interact with strangers. Since chat rooms can be used for anti-social purposes, the type and extent of the information posted in chat room profiles seems likely to be different from that in online profiles for social networking sites, which may be more closely tied to offline identities. This investigation of information in 324 profiles from two Lycos chat rooms for adults found that most users include a picture of themselves on their profile, hence apparently tying themselves to their offline identity. Nevertheless, the majority remain anonymous, probably many more than for social networking sites and blog authors. There are sex differences in the types of information posted on chat room profiles, with women tending to include more personal information. Furthermore, older users are more likely to post information about relationship status and location than younger users. These sex and age differences in profile content may be a consequence of the different motivations for using the service as well as disparities in self-disclosure norms.


Author(s):  
Shubha Singhal ◽  
Shalini Chawla

Background: Whatsapp and Facebook are the communication apps which facilitate the exchange of instant messages, pictures, videos and thus help in connecting the people with each other. Although it has brought many benefits, these benefits have come at a price. People spend more than usual hours on social networking and find it difficult to concentrate on their work and studies. This study was planned to assess the effects of Whatsapp and Facebook on academic, professional and social lives of medical students and resident doctors.Methods: The study was conducted on 480 medical students and 275 resident doctors. The data were collected with the help of a questionnaire designed for gathering the effects of Whatsapp and Facebook on academic, professional and social lives of medical students and resident doctors.Results: Majority of the participants (98.3%) used both Whatsapp and Facebook and spent 1-2 hours per day on Whatsapp and Facebook. Nearly 45% participants said that usage of Whatsapp and/ Facebook had a positive impact on their study performance. More than half of the participants (54.6%) agreed that Whatsapp and Facebook use affected their mood and reduces their interpersonal interaction with family and friends.Conclusions: Study concludes that Whatsapp and Facebook have positive impact in academic and professional lives of medical students and doctors. However, excessive use of social networking sites for recreational purposes has negative impact on their mental and social health.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Jesús Aragón-Ayala ◽  
Henry Rodriguez-Carrillo ◽  
Aldor Cornejo-Estrada ◽  
Cender Udai Quispe-Juli

BACKGROUND Use of Facebook has increased and poses new challenges for adoption of professionalism. In this study we describe the accessibility of Facebook profiles in medical students, the disclosure of personal and professional information, and its association with sex and year of study. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to explore the public accessibility of Facebook profiles of medical students from a Peruvian university and the disclosure of personal and professional information, as well as its association with sex and the year of studies. METHODS Through a systematic search on Facebook, the profiles of medical students from the 2nd to the 7th year were located using fictitious profiles. The presence of different types of information in accessible profiles were evaluated. Furthermore, the proportion of the disclosed content was calculated. The data were compared according to year of study and sex. RESULTS 80% of students (488/611) presented publicly accessible profiles. We did not find a significant difference according year of study (p = 0.098) and sex (p = 0.912). Proportion of disclosed content was greater in higher years: 2nd and 3rd (p = 0.022), 2nd and 6th (p < 0.001), and 2nd and 7th (p = 0.002) and in men (33.25 ± 12.47) compared to women (30.38 ± 11.95) (p = 0.01). Some photos (p = 0.009) and links to other social networking sites (p = 0.036) were more commonly visible in women’s profiles, while showing the university (p = 0.017), medical school (p = 0.043) and sexual orientation (p = 0.001) was more common amongst men. CONCLUSIONS Most of the Facebook profiles of medical students were accessible, the disclosed content was greater in senior and male students. It is necessary to create and implement guidelines on e-professionalism in Latin America.


Info ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 8-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Wauters ◽  
Verónica Donoso ◽  
Eva Lievens

Purpose – This article aims to reflect on possible ways to optimise current ways to deliver information provision to make it more transparent to users. In particular, this article will refer to the benefits (and challenges) of using more user-centred approaches to inform users in a more transparent way. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper we analyse individual, as well as contextual factors (e.g. cognitive differences, time constraints, specific features of social networking sites [SNS] platforms) which may have an impact on the way users deal with Terms of Use, privacy policies and other types of information provision typically made available on SNS platforms. In addition, possible ways of improving current practices in the field are discussed. In particular, the benefits (and challenges) of a user-centred approach have been referred to when it comes to informing users in a way that is more meaningful to them. Finally, it is discussed how user-centred approaches can act as mechanisms to increase transparency in SNS environments and how (alternative) forms of regulation could benefit from such an approach. Findings – The authors believe that it is necessary to start focussing on users/consumers’ needs, expectations and values to develop visualisation tools that can help make law (more) meaningful to users/consumers by giving them a better insight into their rights and obligations and by guiding them in making truly informed decisions regarding their online choices and behaviour. Originality/value – By looking at different techniques such as visual design and the timing of information, the article contributes to the discussion on how people can be made more aware of legal documents and actually read them.


Author(s):  
Ann Dutton Ewbank ◽  
Adam G. Kay ◽  
Teresa S. Foulger ◽  
Heather L. Carter

This chapter reviews the capabilities of social networking tools and links those capabilities to recent legal and ethical controversies involving use of social networking tools such as Facebook and MySpace. A social cognitive moral framework is applied to explore and analyze the ethical issues present in these incidents. Three ethical vulnerabilities are identified in the use of social networking tools: 1) the medium provides a magnified forum for public humiliation or hazing, 2) a blurring of boundaries exists between private and public information on social networking sites, and 3) the medium merges individuals’ professional and non-professional identities. Prevalent legal and social responses to these kinds of incidents are considered and implications are suggested for encouraging responsible use. The chapter includes a description of the authors’ current research with preservice students involving an intervention whereby students read and think about real cases where educators use social networking. The intervention was created to improve students’ critical thinking about the ethical issues involved. Recommendations for applying institutional codes of conduct to ethical dilemmas involving online tools are discussed.


Author(s):  
T. Balamurugan ◽  
M. Aravinthan

Social networking sites over the years have changed from a few user-based sites into a phenomena that has become a platform for a huge number of users. However, the growth and development of social networking sites have brought great concerns on parents and educational authorities with respect to potential risks that are facing the university students as they use online social networking frequently for gathering information. The use of social networking sites among the university students requires much attention with increasing number of students creating profile and feeding their personal information into the sites. The increasing activity on the sites by student community can negatively impact the normal activity of students' lives. This can also become a hindrance to the academic development as well as social engagement of students. Therefore, there is a need to study, assess, and evaluate the issues revolving the usage of social networking sites among the student community. The study shows that the distribution of respondents according to their influence of SNS. It shows both section-wise distribution and their composite scores. Also, the table shows the respective mean scores and standard deviation. It may be inferred that 77.50% of the respondents have stated that the influence of SNS are high, 18.55% of the respondents have stated that the influence of SNS is moderate, and 3.95% of the respondents have stated that the influence of SNS is low. However, the composite mean score (2.72), standard deviation (0.530) depicts that the respondents have stated that the influence of SNS is high.


2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-46
Author(s):  
Nevfel Boz ◽  
Shu-Sha Angie Guan

Abstract Social networking sites like Facebook are popular and ever-expanding, especially among adolescents in Turkey. The study of 406 adolescents aged 14 to 18 (Mage = 15.61, SD = 1.16) provides novel insights into how adolescents from Turkey within a specific cultural framework, display certain kinds of self-presentation strategies. Using the Revised Self-Presentation Scale (RSPS; Lee et al., 1999) when coding adolescents’ profiles for strategies and information, we found that exemplification is the most utilized strategy followed by the ingratiation strategy. Self-report results differed from coded behavioral strategy use for intimidation and self-promotion, where there were higher levels of intimidation strategy than self-reported; for the self-promotion strategy, self-reported levels were higher than coded behavioral use. Particular strategy usage also predicted the sharing of types of information and the number of network friends.


2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christy Cheung ◽  
Zach W. Y. Lee ◽  
Tommy K. H. Chan

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relative impacts of perceived cost, perceived benefits, and social influence on self-disclosure behaviors in social networking sites under an integrated theoretical framework. Design/methodology/approach – Building upon social exchange theory and privacy calculus theory, an integrated model was developed. The model was tested empirically using a sample of 405 social networking site’s users. Users were required to complete a survey regarding self-disclosure behaviors in Facebook. Findings – The results indicate that social influence is the factor which exhibits the strongest effect on self-disclosure in social networking sites, followed by perceived benefits. Surprisingly, perceived privacy risk does not have any significant impact on self-disclosure. Research limitations/implications – The results inform researchers about the importance to incorporate social influence factors and cultural factors into future online self-disclosure study. Practical implications – The results suggest that users focus on the benefits as well as social influence when they decide to reveal personal information in social networking sites, but pay less attention to the potential privacy risks. Educators are advised to launch educational programs to raise students’ awareness to the potential risks of self-disclosure in social networking sites. Service providers of social networking sites are encouraged to provide intuitive privacy indices showing users the levels of privacy protection. Originality/value – This paper is one of the first to develop and empirically tests an integrated model of self-disclosure in social networking sites.


2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaan Varnali ◽  
Aysegul Toker

Our aim was to contribute to the understanding of self-disclosure behavior on social networking sites (SNS). Participants (N = 1,294) completed online surveys comprising measures of willingness to disclose personal information on SNS, self-esteem, SNS affinity, self-disclosure, honesty of self-disclosure, subjective norm, self-monitoring skills, and public self-consciousness. Our findings suggest that self-disclosure mediates the impact of communication-based personality characteristics on the use of SNS, and that subjective norm and SNS affinity also have significant independent effects.


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