Current Uses (and Potential Misuses) of Facebook: An Online Survey in Physiotherapy

Abstract

Purpose: In recent years, the use of social media such as Facebook has become extremely popular and widespread in our society. Among users are health care professionals, who must develop ways to extend their professionalism online. Before issuing formal guidelines, policies, or recommendations to guide online behaviours, there is a need to know to what extent Facebook influences the professional life of physiotherapy professionals. Our goal was to explore knowledge and behaviour that physiotherapists and physical rehabilitation therapists practicing in Quebec have of Facebook. Method: We used an empirical cross-sectional online survey design (n=322, response rate 4.5%). Results: The results showed that 84.3% of physiotherapy professionals had a Facebook account. Almost all had colleagues or former colleagues as Facebook friends, 21% had patients as friends, and 27% had employers as friends. More than a third of workplaces had clinic pages with information intended for the public. Regarding workplace Facebook policies, 37.3% said that there was no policy and another 41.6% were not aware whether there was one or not. Conclusion: There appears to be a need to establish guidelines regarding the use of social media for physiotherapy professionals to ensure maintenance of professionalism and ethical conduct.

Preserving Professional Identities, Behaviors, and Values in Digital Professionalism: A Scoping Review

“…The study has eluded that such events pose substantial threats to the healthcare professionals and their associated institution. Laliberté at al., have cautioned that due to blurred boundaries between professional and unprofessional territories, the Facebook friendship can potentially lead to mixing of professional and personal lives (20). The occurrence of such phenomena is more vulnerable in hospital departments that provide intense and lengthy sessions such as rehabilitation centers.…”

“…All types of noti cations such as visual, auditory, or haptic lead to leads to poor work e ciency and memory. Additionally, media updates dismantle emotional states and ampli es stress levels (20). Currently, this negative impact of social media on healthcare professionals' health and well-being is essentially ignored.…”

The use of social media by arthritis health professionals to disseminate a self-management program to patients: A feasibility study

“…In recent years, social media in the workplace has evolved, 15 and more and more organizations are creating organizational Facebook pages. 23 The PGrip Facebook group page does not require patients or health professionals to identify themselves. While the use of some tools such as posting comments or writing on the “Wall” requires individuals to create an account, the content and videos on the group page are accessible for everyone with or without a Facebook account.…”

“… 20 Facebook, one of the most popular social networking sites with more than a billion active users, 21 allows for the sharing of opinions and information through pictures, texts, and links, 22 allowing for new forms of interaction between health professionals and their patients. 23 While current research has been undertaken to measure the effectiveness of Web 2.0 and online interventions for the self-management of chronic disease among patients, 13 , 14 there is limited research on how health professionals, specifically working in arthritis care, perceive the usability of Facebook to disseminate self-management programs to their patients. A recent scoping review of the literature on social media use by health professionals and trainees 24 included 96 studies of which, only 16 (17%) included a social networking site.…”

Clinician's Commentary on Yoon et al.

“…Technology has changed, and so has the tech savviness of health care professionals, including physiotherapists, with the advent of digital interventions into health care professional education, such as mobile health apps and e-learning. A recent Physiotherapy Canada article highlighted the use of Facebook by physiotherapists, 7 and Yoon and colleagues' 1 participants reported using both email and social media to interact with their mentees. I believe these findings support the idea that CPA take another look at providing a national mentorship programme through technology.…”