Social Media Use, Attitude, and Perception of Digital Professionalism among Dental Students at The University of Benghazi

Abstract

Aims and Objectives The study's primary aim is to assess dental students' usage patterns use of social media, their attitudes, and perceptions of digital professionalism. The secondary objective is to assess the impact of teaching digital professionalism at the University of Benghazi on the attitudes and perceptions of dental students. Materials and Methods: This study used a paper-based questionnaire which was developed and administrated to undergraduate dental students in the academic year 2020/2021 at the faculty of dentistry, Benghazi University. The questionnaire comprised of closeended questions to identify dental students pattern use of different social media platforms: (‘Facebook’, ‘Twitter’, ‘Instagram’, ‘YouTube’, ‘Snapchat’, ‘Telegram’), their privacy setting on each platform, and their perception and attitudes towards digital professionalism (e-professionalism). The data was then compared among those who received and did not receive professionalism lecture. All data were analyzed using SPSS (version 25) software at p-value ≤0.05. Results: The number of students responded (N=364) out of 400 students accessed, almost all of them used multiple social media platforms and the most used site was Telegram (98.9%) by followed by Facebook (96.4%), 4th year students more likely to use telegram on daily basis than those in the internship year (P< 0.05). half of the of respondents (57.5%) felt that their online behavior is personal, separate from their life as a dental student, while 71.1% believed that their online behavior would not affect their future job opportunities. Most students 70.9% described social media posts that disclose information about the dental patients to be unprofessional. However, only 6.4% of the students considered communicating with patients on social media as unprofessional behavior which 4th year students were less likely to report this behavior as unprofessional compared to intern students (P-value = 0.026). Furthermore, 52.4% of the students reported that negative comments about the teaching process, staff, or colleagues as unprofessional online behavior. Conclusion: Almost all of the participants in this study used multiple social media sites which confirms the popularity of social media sites in recent years and gives tangible evidence regarding the use of social media among the dental students at the University of Benghazi, with Telegram and Facebook being, respectively, the most popular sites. Most students tend to use their real names when using social media platforms and use a privacy setting to limit their audience. However, a concerning number exhibited a deficit in their reporting of unprofessional online behaviors about maintaining patients' privacy and creating personal-professional boundaries on social media. This study highlights the need to establish policies for the professional and ethical use of social media by the University and emphasizes the need to include digital professionalism teaching to all dental undergraduates.