Professional conduct among Registered Nurses in the use of online social networking sites
Abstract
Aim: To explore the use of Facebook by Registered Nurses (RNs) in Italy and the United Kingdom (UK), focusing on the disclosure of personal and professional information. Background: The use of online social network sites among medical students and doctors is posing new ethical challenges to the profession. To date, little research has explored the use of online social networking sites among nurses. Design: A cross‐national survey. Methods: Data were assessed on 124 nurses’ profile pages, readily available without viewing restrictions. Content analysis and inferential statistics were undertaken to describe usage and identify similarities and differences between the two country‐groups of nurses. Data were collected between December 2011–January 2012. Results: Overall, UK and Italian RNs showed a similar use of the online platform, tending to disclose personal pictures, home town and current home location, as well as updates and comments related to personal and work‐related activities. A statistically significant higher proportion of nurses in Italy disclosed their sexual orientation. In both groups, a few cases were observed of potentially unprofessional content in relation to the use of alcohol, nudity and material of a salacious nature. Conclusion: Although most of the UK and Italy RNs appear to be aware of the risks posed by their online exposure, their online activity indicates the blurring of their personal and professional lives; this is posing new ethical, legal and professional challenges to members of the nursing profession. Further research and debate is encouraged at national and international level.
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A total of 8 studies were conducted in several countries simultaneously.
“A total of 8 studies were conducted in several countries simultaneously [32-39].”
From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [35]
Lower rates of social media use were seen in practicing health care professionals, physicians of different specialties, and program directors or faculty, mostly ranging from 50% to 80%.
“Lower rates of use were seen in practicing HCPs, physicians of different specialties, and program directors (PDs) or faculty, mostly ranging from 50% to 80% [35,39,74,80,83,85,86,88,89,91,96,105,106,108,110,113,114].”
From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [35]
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- Authors
- Levati, S.
- Affiliations
- Glasgow Caledonian University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Levati, Sara
- ORCID
- Levati, Sara
- Venue
- Journal of Advanced Nursing
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2014-03-12
- Volume
- 70
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 2284-2292
- ISSN
- 0309-2402 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2648
- OpenAlex
- W2105363586
- Semantic Scholar
- f5495fb4289652fcf5034128c048ef637d8f796c
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2024: 1 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 6 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 4.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Advanced Nursing (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
- Social Sciences › Demography › Cyberloafing and Workplace Behavior
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Leadership and Management › Healthcare Education and Workforce Issues
- Keywords
- registered nurses, online social networking, Facebook, professional conduct, personal information disclosure, professional ethics, coming out, personal and professional boundaries, cross-national comparison, Italy, United Kingdom
- MeSH terms
- United Kingdom, Humans, Nursing Staff, Professional Competence, Social Support
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