TY - JOUR
T1 - The relationship between social media usage by undergraduate nursing students and development of their professional identity
T2 - A correlational study
AU - Alharbi, Muna
AU - Kuhn, Lisa
AU - Morphet, Julia
N1 - Funding Information:
Sincere thanks to the study participants. The experiences they shared were invaluable in assisting us to determine the influence that social media had on their professional identity development. Thanks to Associate Professor Gabrielle Brand, Dr. Gayle McLelland, Associate Professor Philip Russo, Dr. Ensieh Fooladi, and Assistant Professor Monirah Albloushi for checking the content validity of the questionnaire. Thanks to Dr. Ghaida Alsulami, Ms. Norah Alyahya, Ms. Aishah Alharbi and Mr. Abed Mohammed for their invaluable assistance in reviewing the translation of the questionnaire. No external funding.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/5
Y1 - 2022/5
N2 - Background: How nursing students perceive themselves as potential nurses in the future is defined as their nursing professional identity. Many undergraduate nursing students present positive attitudes regarding the use of social media. However, the influence of social media usage by undergraduate nursing students on the development of their professional identity is yet to be determined. Objective: To determine the relationship between social media usage by undergraduate nursing students and the development of their professional identity. Design: Descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional study. Setting(s): Two universities in western Saudi Arabia. Participants: Undergraduate nursing students who used social media. Methods: An online questionnaire was designed, and its contents were validated. It was then distributed via a Qualtrics link to students' email addresses and via social media between 4th September 2019 and 28th October 2019. Descriptive analysis including frequencies, percentages, medians, and interquartile ranges were reported. Additionally, a number of non-parametric tests were conducted to investigate the relationships in question. Results: In total, 484 questionnaires were included in the analysis. The participants who used social media for educational (p = 0.004), or for professional purposes (p = 0.015) had high scores on the PI scale. The professional identity scores were also positively associated among the participants who followed nurses (p < 0.001), shared their nursing experiences (p < 0.001), and acted as societal educators about the nursing profession (p < 0.001) on social media platforms. Conclusions: Engagement with social media positively influenced undergraduate nursing students in the development of their professional identity. However, it is notable that the pedagogy of nursing education has been slow to adopt social media into nursing curricula. Nursing students require guidance in terms of how to use social media for their professional development.
AB - Background: How nursing students perceive themselves as potential nurses in the future is defined as their nursing professional identity. Many undergraduate nursing students present positive attitudes regarding the use of social media. However, the influence of social media usage by undergraduate nursing students on the development of their professional identity is yet to be determined. Objective: To determine the relationship between social media usage by undergraduate nursing students and the development of their professional identity. Design: Descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional study. Setting(s): Two universities in western Saudi Arabia. Participants: Undergraduate nursing students who used social media. Methods: An online questionnaire was designed, and its contents were validated. It was then distributed via a Qualtrics link to students' email addresses and via social media between 4th September 2019 and 28th October 2019. Descriptive analysis including frequencies, percentages, medians, and interquartile ranges were reported. Additionally, a number of non-parametric tests were conducted to investigate the relationships in question. Results: In total, 484 questionnaires were included in the analysis. The participants who used social media for educational (p = 0.004), or for professional purposes (p = 0.015) had high scores on the PI scale. The professional identity scores were also positively associated among the participants who followed nurses (p < 0.001), shared their nursing experiences (p < 0.001), and acted as societal educators about the nursing profession (p < 0.001) on social media platforms. Conclusions: Engagement with social media positively influenced undergraduate nursing students in the development of their professional identity. However, it is notable that the pedagogy of nursing education has been slow to adopt social media into nursing curricula. Nursing students require guidance in terms of how to use social media for their professional development.
KW - Correlational
KW - Professional identity
KW - Social media
KW - Undergraduate nursing students
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85127159062&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105337
DO - 10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105337
M3 - Article
C2 - 35378417
AN - SCOPUS:85127159062
SN - 0260-6917
VL - 112
JO - Nurse Education Today
JF - Nurse Education Today
M1 - 105337
ER -