An assessment of professionalism on students’ Facebook profiles
Open accessAbstract
Introduction: With the advent of social media, healthcare professionals not only need to be conscious of professionalism in their face‐to‐face interactions but also in the electronic environment. The aim of this study was to assess the level of online professionalism on Facebook profiles available for public viewing of students from a dental school. Materials and methods: A search was performed via a new Facebook account of all students in the University Dental School (dental hygiene, dental nursing, dental science and dental technology). Profiles were categorised as ‘private’ or ‘public’. Demographic details and photographs/comments of unprofessional behaviour were recorded for each individual Facebook profile. Each profile was subsequently scored with regard to professionalism based on a previously published score. Results: There are a total of 287 students in the dental school. Of these, 62% (n = 177) had a Facebook account. Three per cent (n = 6) had a public account (fully accessible) whilst 97% (n = 171) had a private account (limited access); 36% (n = 63) of students mentioned the dental school/hospital on their profile; 34% (n = 60) had questionable content on their profile whilst 3% (n = 6) had definite violations of professionalism on their profile; and 25% (n = 44) had unprofessional photographs on their profile. Of those with unprofessional content, 52% (n = 23) of these had a documented affiliation with the dental school also visible on their profile. Conclusion: There was a concerning level of unprofessional content visible on students’ Facebook profiles. Students need to be fully aware of their professional responsibility in the setting of social media.
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Loosening accountability is a danger to e-professionalism from two points of view: eroding public trust by providing poor quality of information on social media and damaging the professional image.
“According to some studies in this review, loosening accountability can be seen as a danger to e-professionalism from two points of view: eroding public trust by providing poor quality of information on SM [39,106,117] and damaging to the professional image [43, 45, 51, 56, 57, 59, 64, 66, 68, 70, 73, 102, 106, 112].”
From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [56]
The Discussion (page unavailable) says improper online activity risks reputations and that inappropriate social-media use can affect patients’ and society’s trust. It does not attribute erosion of trust to poor-quality information posted on social media; its concern is unprofessional conduct and content on students’ profiles. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPotential damage to professional image has been depicted by students as concerns about repercussions of their posts on career development or future employment, since employers are checking social media profiles of candidates.
“Potential damage to the professional image has been depicted by students as concerns about repercussions of their posts on career development or future employment, since employers are checking SM profiles of candidates [43, 45, 51, 56, 57, 59, 66, 68, 70].”
From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [56]
The Introduction (page unavailable) reports that surgical residency directors check applicants’ social-networking profiles and that one-third ranked an applicant lower after viewing a profile. The Discussion (page unavailable) describes reputational risks from improper online activity. The paper assessed publicly visible Facebook profiles, however; it does not report students expressing concerns about career development or future employment. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThere is more awareness of online responsibilities as students progress through their program because employers can, and at times do, use social media profiles to make hiring decisions.
“In addition, it has been reported that there is more awareness of online responsibilities as students progress through their program because employers can, and at times do, use SM profiles to make hiring decisions [56].”
From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [56]
The Discussion (page unavailable) suggests that awareness of online responsibilities may grow with professional advancement, but it does not establish that students become more aware as they progress through their program. The Introduction (page unavailable) reports that residency directors review applicants’ social-media profiles and that some ranked applicants lower after doing so. The paper does not link that hiring practice causally to increased student awareness. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThere is more awareness of online responsibilities as students progress through their program because employers can and at times do use social media profiles to make hiring decisions.
“In addition, it has been reported that there is more awareness of online responsibilities as students progress through their program because employers can, and at times do, use SM profiles to make hiring decisions [56,137].”
From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [56]
The Discussion (page unavailable) suggests that graduates have greater awareness of online responsibilities than students, but does not establish that awareness increases as students progress through their program. The Introduction (page unavailable) reports that some surgical residency directors ranked applicants lower after viewing their social-media profiles; it does not connect hiring decisions to the suggested increase in awareness. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredStudents depict potential damage to professional image as a concern about repercussions of their posts on career development or future employment because employers check social media profiles of candidates.
“Potential damage to professional image has been depicted by students as a concern about repercussions of their posts, on career development, or on future employment since employers are checking SM profiles of candidates [43, 45, 51, 56, 57, 59, 66, 68, 70].”
From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [56]
The Introduction (page unavailable) reports that surgical residency programme directors check applicants’ social-networking sites and that one-third ranked an applicant lower after viewing one. That supports a potential employment consequence, but the paper assesses students’ Facebook profiles rather than reporting students’ own concerns about career development or future employment. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Of dental students with unprofessional photographs, 52% had a documented affiliation with the dental school also visible on their profile.
“Of those with unprofessional photographs, 52% had a documented affiliation with the dental school also visible on their profile [56].”
From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [56]
Loosening accountability is a danger to e-professionalism from two points of view: eroding public trust by providing poor quality information on social media and damage to professional image.
“According to some studies in this review, loosening accountability can be seen as a danger on e-professionalism from two points of view, eroding public trust by providing poor quality of information on SM [39,106,117] and damage to professional image [43, 45, 51, 56, 57, 59, 64, 66, 68, 70, 73, 102, 106, 112].”
From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [56]
There are no validated instruments for assessing attitude towards e-professionalism of medical and dental students.
“Many studies have investigated aspects of e-professionalism of medical or dental students as future health professionals, but there are no validated instruments made for assessing attitude towards e-professionalism of those two populations.”
From Development and validation of scale for measuring attitudes towards e-professionalism among medical and dental students: SMePROF-S scale (2021) · cites this paper as [18]
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- Authors
- Nason, K. N., Byrne, H., Nason, G. J., & O'Connell, B.
- Affiliations
- Trinity College Dublin (IE)
- Corresponding author
- Nason, K. N.
- Venue
- European Journal of Dental Education
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2016-10-13
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 30-33
- ISSN
- 1396-5883 (ISSN-L)
- 1600-0579
- PMC
- PMC5836922
- OpenAlex
- W2529888706
- Cited by
- 31
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 4.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- European Journal Of Dental Education (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Innovations in Medical Education
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Dental Education, Practice, Research
- Keywords
- professionalism, dental students, Facebook profiles, social media, online professionalism, unprofessional behavior, professional responsibility, dental hygiene students
- MeSH terms
- Professionalism, Female, Humans, Male, Students, Dental, Social Media
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