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Cited by 59Social Media in Health EducationInnovations in Medical EducationImpact of Technology on Adolescents

What's on YOUR Facebook profile? Evaluation of an educational intervention to promote appropriate use of privacy settings by medical students on social networking sites

Open access
Walton, Jennifer M., White, Jonathan, Ross, Shelley·2015·Medical Education Online
DOI 10.3402/meo.v20.28708PMC PMC4509902
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: The rise of social media has led to growing concerns about the potential implications of 'unprofessional' postings by physicians and medical students on individuals, institutions, and the medical profession. Relevant and effective guidelines have been difficult to develop and enforce, and there is a need for students and physicians to consider how their online activities may be perceived in the context of their professional roles. The purpose of this project was to examine the Internet presence of a graduating Canadian medical school class by scanning students' public profiles on the social media site Facebook, incorporate this information into an educational activity addressing professionalism and social media, and evaluate the impact of this activity on student behavior. METHODS: A systematic search for public Facebook profiles of each member of the class was conducted, and data were collected on the types of publicly visible material. These were presented as part of an educational session on social media and professionalism. One month later, the Facebook search was repeated. RESULTS: Of 152 students in the class, profiles were found for 121 (79.8%). The majority of students used appropriately restrictive privacy settings; however, a significant minority had publicly visible information, including comments, photographs, location, and status as a medical student. The educational innovation was well received with more than 90% of students agreeing that this topic was important and well addressed. A follow-up search found that many students had altered their privacy settings to make less information publicly available. CONCLUSIONS: A small but significant proportion of students share potentially unprofessional content on social media. An interactive educational intervention, which includes specific disclosure of how participants appear to others on social media, resulted in a significant change in student behavior.

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  • Of the survey studies, only about one-third had a response rate of 50% or greater, and 9 studies did not explicitly report a response rate.

    “Of these survey studies, only about one-third had a response rate of 50% or greater, and 9 studies did not explicitly report a response rate [39,53,60,63,65,67,72,75,96].”

    From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [60]

    The citation appears in the list offered for studies that did not explicitly report a response rate. But the Results section (“Student evaluation of educational session”; page unavailable) states that completed evaluations were received from 80% of the class, explicitly reporting the questionnaire completion rate. This paper cannot establish the aggregate claim about the other survey studies. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • In 4 studies including medical students, educational interventions were positively accepted by students and showed a positive impact on the way they view themselves and their use of social media.

    “In 4 studies that included medical students as participants [46,48,60,63], educational interventions were positively accepted by students and showed a positive impact on the way they view themselves and their use of SM.”

    From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [60]

    The Results section (‘Student evaluation of educational session’; page not provided) reports very positive student evaluations, and the Discussion reports decreases in publicly visible Facebook material after the intervention. The intervention encouraged students to reflect on their online image, but the paper does not establish a positive change in how they viewed themselves; its reported behavioral findings concern publicly visible Facebook content, not social media use generally. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • Studies found high social media use among students, ranging from 66.9% to 98.7%.

    “Studies that assessed SM use among different types of HCPs found high use among students, from 66.9% to 98.7% [40,43,50,51,60,61,64-66,68-70,102]”

    From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [60]

  • One month following the educational intervention, many medical students had changed their privacy settings to further restrict public access to information on their Facebook accounts.

    “Repeated searches for all class members 1 month following the educational intervention revealed that many students had changed their privacy settings to further restrict public access to information on their Facebook accounts.”

    From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [60]

  • There was a significant decrease in the proportion of students who could be found using only a simple name search.

    “Fewer overall students could be found by any search strategy, and in particular, there was a significant decrease in the proportion that could be found using only a simple name search.”

    From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [60]

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Authors
Walton, J. M., White, J., & Ross, S.
Affiliations
University of Alberta (CA)
Corresponding author
Walton, Jennifer M.
ORCID
Venue
Medical Education Online
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2015-01
Volume
20
Issue
1
Pages
28708
ISSN
1087-2981 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3402/meo.v20.28708
PMC
PMC4509902
OpenAlex
W1833756039
Cited by
59
References
25
Citations by year
2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 7 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 9
FWCI
7.11
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Medical Education Online (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Innovations in Medical Education
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
Keywords
professionalism, educational intervention, online professional identity
MeSH terms
Canada, Education, Medical, Undergraduate, Female, Humans, Male, Students, Medical, Guidelines as Topic, Privacy, Professional Role, Social Networking, Social Media

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