Social Media Use and E-Professionalism among Libyan Dental Students at the University of Benghazi
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37376/ljd.v8i2.7153Keywords:
Dental students, Digital professionalism, E-professionalism, Social media, LibyaAbstract
Aim: This study aimed to assess dental students' social media (SM) usage and their perceptions of and attitudes towards e-professionalism.
Materials and methods: This study used a paper-based questionnaire administered to undergraduate dental students (4th year and interns) at the University of Benghazi, Libya, in 2022. The questionnaire included closed-ended questions to recognize dental students' use of social media platforms, their privacy settings and their perceptions and attitudes towards e-professionalism. The responses were compared according to the study year and whether the participants received professionalism-related training. The chi-square test was used for all comparisons, with the significance level set at p˂0.05.
Results: A total of 364 students were included in the analysis (response rate: 73.5%). Almost all participants used multiple SM platforms. However, the most frequently used platforms were Facebook (84.3%) and Telegram (76.9%). More than half of the respondents (57.5%) considered their online behaviour to be a personal activity that would not affect their job opportunities in the future (71.1%). On the other hand, a considerable proportion of the respondents described posting information about dental patients as unprofessional (70.9%). Overall, a small proportion of participants (6.4%) considered communication with patients on SM unprofessional. Interns, however, were more likely to report this as unprofessional (P = 0.026).
Conclusion: The current study demonstrated the widespread popularity of SM platforms, notably Facebook and Telegram, among dental students at the University of Benghazi. The study also highlights concerns about students’ perceptions of what constitutes unprofessional behaviours when using SM platforms with blurred personal-professional boundaries. The study's findings underscore the necessity of creating guidelines for social media use among Libyan dental students and incorporating e-professionalism into the dental curriculum.
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