Awareness, perceptions, and use of social networking sites in education and patient management: An intervention study among health science faculty

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of a workshop in improving awareness, perceptions, and practices related to the use of social networking sites (SNSs) for educational purposes and patient management among faculty members. It was a quasi-experimental study involving 35 faculty members who participated in the workshop. After collecting baseline data on self-perceived knowledge, perceptions, and practices through a pretest questionnaire, an intervention in the form of a workshop was conducted. Following the workshop, self-perceived knowledge was reassessed via a posttest questionnaire. The participants were contacted after six months to inquire about their SNS usage practices. Differences between pre- and posttest scores were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Before the workshop, 18 participants used SNSs for educational purposes, and 19 used SNSs for patient management. SNSs were used more frequently for educational purposes among participants aged ≤50 years (P=0.0275). It was used for patient management by a greater proportion of male participants (P=0.028). The participants showed an increase in self-perceived knowledge (P<0.001) after the workshop. Thirty participants strongly agreed or agreed with the need for more such training programs. Faculty members from the Departments of Radiodiagnosis, Orthopaedics, and Radiation Oncology used SNSs for educational purposes, patient management, or both following this workshop. It can therefore be concluded that this workshop effectively improved participants’ self-perceived knowledge of the application of SNSs for educational purposes. More such workshops involving SNSs need to be conducted among health science faculty members.