Perceptions of e-professionalism among dental students: a UK dental school study

Abstract

Introduction: The social media activity of some healthcare students has created doubt about their ability to uphold and defend the ethical principles of healthcare in their online behaviours. A lot of research has been conducted on the online behaviours of medical and allied health professional students, however, less has been undertaken on dental students. Aims: Its aim was to determine whether students were aware of the guidelines set by the General Dental Council (GDC) regarding social media and whether they believed they were being professional in their online activities. Methods and materials: Eighty-eight dental students (46 from year 2; 42 from year 4) at one UK dental school completed a questionnaire study examining their attitude towards and perceptions of e-professionalism. Results: The results show that most students were heavy users of social media with an awareness of social media guidelines set out by the GDC. However, student responses to various e-professionalism scenarios reveals disagreement on whether posts referring to alcohol and work colleagues were deemed unprofessional. Conclusion: Student perceptions of and attitudes towards e-professionalism is complicated and contradictory. More research will need to be undertaken to explore how we can inculcate eprofessional values and behaviours in dental professionalism teaching. 3 in-brief points • The ubiquity of social media means that it is an inescapable aspect of everyday life and has a direct bearing on professional practice and reputation. • All students underestimated how accessible they are to the public because of what they post online. • Though students have an awareness of GDC social media guidelines, their interpretation of whether it is professional to be implicated in online posts and photos that involve alcohol and workrelated updates was ambivalent.

The relationship between Facebook behaviour and e‐professionalism: A questionnaire‐based cross‐sectional study among Greek dental students

“…The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Dental School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) (IRB protocol number 421/03.07.2019). An anonymous, 23‐item questionnaire was assembled based on previous studies 6,10,12,13,15,21,24,26‐29 investigating the relationship of Facebook and e‐professionalism. It included multiple‐choice questions regarding (a) demographics and general characteristics of responders; (b) Facebook profile settings and main reasons for its use; (c) Facebook content shared by dental students; (d) student‐patient relationship via Facebook; and (e) students' perception about the impact of their online behaviour (File ).…”

“…Pearson's chi‐squared (x 2 ) test and Fisher's exact test were used to analyse associations between responders' preclinical or clinical year (at the time of study) and their answers on Facebook name and profile settings; main reason(s) for using Facebook; favourite Facebook pages and groups; content of Facebook posts; and perception about the impact of their online behaviour on e‐professionalism. Similarly to Dobson et al 6 that compared 2nd and 4th year students, we decided to compare the answers of preclinical and clinical students in order to investigate whether clinical experience in the latter group might have affected their perceptions about the relationship between Facebook behaviour and e‐professionalism. The answers considering the doctor‐patient interaction via Facebook given by the 4th and 5th year students were also compared.…”

“…Professionalism encompasses general principles, for example, altruism, integrity, compassion, as well as more professional‐specific definitions, such as respect and observance of the ethics and accountability to self, patients, profession and society, by maintaining the appropriate professional boundaries 1‐3 . The increasing popularity of social media tools in the medical field during the last decade has established the new term of digital or online professionalism, referred to as “e‐professionalism,” 4,5 defined as “the behaviours and attitudes reflecting typical professionalism's examples that are manifested through social media.” 6 In contrast to physical interaction‐induced professionalism, social media may disclose personal information, for example, interests and activities that can be maintained and judged by the society for an infinite period of time 2 …”

“…Few questionnaire‐based studies have evaluated the online behaviour of dental students 6,10,13,24 . Facebook was the most popular social media tool among them, 6,13,24 probably because it is free of charge and has an easy to use structure that enables users to create personal profiles, interact with other people and share personal information 9,10,25 .…”

“…Few questionnaire‐based studies have evaluated the online behaviour of dental students 6,10,13,24 . Facebook was the most popular social media tool among them, 6,13,24 probably because it is free of charge and has an easy to use structure that enables users to create personal profiles, interact with other people and share personal information 9,10,25 . Thus, in order to include the maximum number of social network users and to compare our results with previous studies, the present study focused on Facebook and aimed to record the attitude of Greek dental students on this online platform and their awareness about the association of Facebook behaviour with e‐ professionalism.…”