Exploring educational interventions to facilitate health professional students’ professionally safe online presence

Abstract

Objective: To establish the most effective approach and type of educational intervention for health professional students, to enable them to maintain a professionally safe online presence.

Method: This was a qualitative, multinational, multi-institutional, multiprofessional study. Practical considerations (availability of participants) led us to use a combination of focus groups and individual interviews, strengthening our findings by triangulating our method of data collection. The study gathered data from 57 nursing, medical and paramedical students across four sites in three countries (Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia and Wales). A content analysis was conducted to clarify how and why students used Facebook and what strategies they thought might be useful to ensure professional usage. A series of emergent codes were examined and a thematic analysis undertaken from which key themes were crystallized.

Results: The results illuminated the ways in which students use social networking sites (SNS). The three key themes to emerge from the data analysis were negotiating identities, distancing and risks. Students expressed the wish to have material about professional safety on SNS taught to them by authoritative figures to explain “the rules” as well as by peers to assist with practicalities. Our interactive research method demonstrated the transformative capacity of the students working in groups.

Conclusions: Our study supports the need for an educational intervention to assist health professional students to navigate SNS safely and in a manner appropriate to their future roles as health professionals. Because health professional students develop their professional identity throughout their training, we suggest that the most appropriate intervention incorporate small group interactive sessions from those in authority, and from peers, combined with group work that facilitates and enhances the students’ development of a professional identity.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Glossary

Social Networking Site (SNS): Is the phrase used to describe any Web site that enables users to create public profiles within that Web site and form relationships with other users of the same Web site who access their profile. Social networking sites can be used to describe community-based Web sites, online discussions forums, chat rooms and other social spaces online.

Defined by Webopedia from http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/social_networking_site.html

Notes on contributors

Marcus A. Henning, MA, MBus, PhD, Senior Lecturer, Centre for Medical and Health Sciences Education, Private Bag 92019, University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.

Susan Hawken, MBChB, Dip Obs, FRNZCGP, MHSc (Hons), Honorary Senior Lecturer, General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.

Joanna MacDonald, MBChB, PhD, FRANZCP, Senior Clinical Lecturer, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand.

Judy McKimm, MBA, MA(Ed), BA (Hons), CertEd, SFHEA, FAcadMedEd, Professor of Medical Education and Director of Strategic Educational Development, Swansea University, United Kingdom.

Menna Brown, BSc (Hons), MSc, Lecturer, Swansea University, Medical School, United Kingdom.

Helen Moriarty, MBChB, MGP, DPH, PGCertHlthSci (Alcohol drugs, addiction), PGDipTertTeach (Clinical), FRNZCGP, FAChAM(RACP), Senior Lecturer, Department of Primary Health Care & General Practice, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand.

Sue Gasquoine, RN, MPhil (Hons), Nursing Policy Adviser/Researcher, New Zealand Nurses Organisation, Auckland, New Zealand

Kwong Chan, Adv Dip Holistic Counselling MD MA(Life and Death Studies) PhD, Senior Lecturer, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, School of Medicine, Queensland 4215, Australia.

Jo Hilder, DipTESL, MA (UCLA), Research Fellow, Department of Primary Health Care & General Practice, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand.

Tim Wilkinson, MBChB, MD(Otago), PhD(Otago), MClin Ed(UNSW), FRACP, FRCP(London), FANZAHPE, Professor and Director, MB ChB programme (Faculty of Medicine), University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand.