Impact of social media on the academic performance of undergraduate medical students

Exploring the linkages between social media use, self-esteem, and academic performance among nursing students in Saudi Arabia: A descriptive correlational study

Background

The prevalence of social media influence in education makes it necessary to investigate how it might affect nursing students' academic achievement and sense of self. To our knowledge, the associations between academic performance, self-esteem, and social media usage among nursing students from Saudi Arabia remain understudied.

Objective

This study aimed to examine the relationships between academic performance, self-esteem, and the utilization of social media platforms by Saudi Arabian nursing students.

Methods

This descriptive correlational study employed a convenience sample of 220 nursing students (response rate 95.2%). An online survey with questions about demographics, students' academic performance, social media usage, and self-esteem was used for data collection from 1 March to May 2023. Pearson correlation coefficients, independent t-tests, Analysis of Variance, and hierarchical regression were used for data analysis.

Results

Social media use had an average score of 3.60 ± 0.66, self-esteem was 2.13 ± 0.27, and academic performance was 3.95 ± 0.58. The students' academic performance related positively to the utilization of social media platforms (r = 0.210, p <0.01). There were statistically positive correlations between academic purpose and social motives domains of utilizing social media and academic performance (r = 0.304, p <0.01; r = 0.208, p <0.01) respectively. The amount of time students spent on social media was not related to their self-esteem (r = 0.047, p >0.05). The students' self-esteem was unrelated to their academic achievement (r = 0.059, p >0.05).

Conclusions

Utilizing social media channels can assist nursing students in improving their academic achievement. Therefore, nursing educators and decision-makers in nursing education have the opportunity to establish collaborative learning environments by integrating social media. This approach aims to improve communication, enhance the learning experience, and ultimately improve the academic achievements of nursing students.

Social media addiction and depression and their predictors among university students

OBJECTIVES

Social media facilitate the interaction between individuals without regard to the distances between the users. Everybody who has access to internet can suffer from social media addiction. During COVID-19 pandemic there was an increase in social media usage among all population types and especially the university students, which would negatively affect their mental health. Therefore, this study aims at assessing social media addiction and depression among pharmacy students by using questionnaires specifically designed for this purpose.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study with convenience sampling was conducted from the start of November to the end of December 2021 among undergraduate pharmacy students in Mosul city, Iraq. An online questionnaire was adopted; it consisted of three parts, the first was for collecting socio-demographic and social media usage information, Social Media Addiction Questionnaire (SMAQ) was used in the second part to assess social media addiction of the participants, and the third part was comprised of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to assess depression among students.

RESULTS

Six hundred-three students completed the questionnaire and constituted the final study sample. Instagram was the most used social media program among the students. About 38 % of the students were at risk of becoming addicted on social media, with only 8.4 % of them being minimally or not depressed. Additionally, positive significant correlation was observed between social media addiction and depression. Using social media for more than 4 h and poor academic performance were found to be predictors for social media addiction and depression.

CONCLUSIONS

Addiction to social media and depression are prevalent among pharmacy students in Iraq and the two are related to each other.

A one-year follow-up study of changes in social media addiction and career networking among college students with disabilities

OBJECTIVE

This one-year follow-up study examined the changes of impact of using social media among college students with disabilities from the initial survey.

PARTICIPANTS

193 students completed the follow-up survey of the 341 who agreed to participate.

METHODS

Paired t-test compared the changes in social media usage between the two surveys. Multiple linear regressions examined the relationship of social media use variables and social media addiction, career networking, disability subtypes between the two surveys.

RESULTS

The daily average time spent on social media remained similar over one year. However, the level of social media addiction increased, especially among male students. One positive change was that students spent more time using social media for career networking purposes.

CONCLUSION

Public awareness and education of social media addiction should be raised. Additionally, students could benefit from being guided and encouraged to use social media for positive activities such as career networking.

Social Media Usage and Academic Performance Among Medical Students in Medina, Saudi Arabia

Background

Social media are websites and applications enabling users to create or share content and communicate. The widespread use of social media among university students and easy access during class and study time raises concern about its impact on academic performance. This study aims to determine the impact of social media usage, addiction, and exposure on students' academic performance.

Methods

An online cross-sectional study was conducted using convenience sampling among undergraduate medical students in Medina, KSA during the academic year 2021/2022. We used the chi-square and fisher's exact tests to determine the impact of social media usage on academic performance.

Results

842 medical students participated in our study. 57.1% were females, 24.8% were in the 5th academic year, and 56.5% had a Grade Point Average (GPA) in the range of 4.5 to 5. Moreover, 26.1% of the students use social networking sites for 3-4 hours, and males are more addicted to social media than females. Our results showed that students with excellent GPAs (GPA ≥ 4.5) are less likely to be addicted to social media networks (54.8%), and they perceive that using social media is not helping to improve their grades compared to other students. Also, showed that those who are addicted to social media benefit from the use of social media to improve their grades. There is no significant difference between genders in social media usage as if it helps them improve their grades. Moreover, no difference between the academic years in addiction and usage of social media.

Conclusion

This study has revealed that students with higher levels were less addicted to social media, and those who are addicted benefit from using social media to improve their grades. We call for using social media as a supporting tool for academic performance and achievement among university students.

Effectiveness of Twitter Threads to Improve Medical Student Electrocardiogram (ECG) Reading-Skills. The TwittUVa-ECG Non-Randomized Pre-Post Study

Introduction

social media is increasingly used in medical education, but its real educational effectiveness is unclear. In this study we assess the effectiveness of Twitter threads (TTS) in improving electrocardiogram (ECG) basic reading skills (ECGBRS).

Materials and Methods

Seven TTS describing ECGBRS were published from October 28, 2021, to November 24, 2021. Tests were used to assess medical students ECGBRS pre and post intervention. All third and sixth-year medical students were invited to participate. Sixty-three students were enrolled (33 third year and 30 sixth year). Nine (14.3%) participants dropped out.

Results

Sixth year medical students had higher ECGBRS at baseline. The number of correct items increased after the Twitter intervention; median correct pre-test items were 20 out of 56, (interquartile range (IQR) 14-23), and median post-test were 29 out of 56, (IQR 21-36) (p < 0.001). The improvement in sixth year students was greater than for third year students; 10 more correct items (IQR 4-14) vs. 7 (IQR 1-14) items (p = 0.045). The more TTS followed, the greater the improvement in ECGBRS (p = 0.004). The QRS axis calculation was the ECG reading skill with the lowest scores. Most medical students were definitely (35%) or very probably (46%) interested in repeating another on-line learning experience and found the TTS extremely (39%) or very (46%) interesting.

Conclusions

The use of specifically designed TTS was associated with improvement in medical students' interpretation of ECGs. The effectiveness of the threads was higher in the final years of medical school when basic skills had already been acquired.

Graphical Abstract

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-023-01885-x.

Student Perception and Preferences With Social Media for Enhanced Learning in Health Sciences Following Post-COVID-19 Era: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, universities worldwide pivoted to distance education, primarily online, using various blended learning tools. In the contemporary era, characterized by widespread high-speed internet and the ubiquity of social media (SM), SM has become an essential tool, especially among students. This study aimed to assess the perception, impact, and preferences of various SM platforms for learning among health sciences students in the post-COVID-19 era. Methodology The study was conducted at constituent colleges of Jouf University and Northern Border University between January and June 2022. Responses from 560 students were assessed using a self-administered, pre-validated questionnaire comprising 31 questions. These questions addressed students' perceptions, preferences, and learning modes derived from SM. Descriptive and inferential statistics evaluated the influence of SM on student learning. Results On average, students spent 3.18 hours daily on SM. YouTube (41.1%) and Instagram (37.1%) emerged as the most preferred platforms for learning. A significant 86.4% of students utilized SM for accessing subject-related texts and watching related videos. Moreover, 78.6% believed that SM platforms enhanced their subject knowledge following lectures. Logistic regression analysis indicated maximum learning benefits for students who used SM between two to three hours daily. Conclusion Social media platforms, when used judiciously, can enhance the learning experience for health sciences students in the post-COVID era. While offering opportunities to acquire new knowledge and skills, care must be taken to prevent misuse, abuse, or related health hazards.

Prevalence and Determinants of Social Media Addiction among Medical Students in a Selected University in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Social media addiction has become a serious public health concern due to its adverse psychological effects. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and determinants of social media addiction among medical students in Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was designed. Participants (n = 326) from King Khalid University in Saudi Arabia completed the sociodemographic information, patient health questionnaire-9 scale, and the generalized anxiety disorder-7 tool to measure explanatory variables. The Bergen social media addiction scale (BSMAS) was used to measure social media addiction. A multiple linear regression model was fitted to investigate the predictors of social media addiction. The prevalence of social media addiction among study participants was 55.2% (mean BSMAS score: 16.6). According to the adjusted linear regression, male students had higher social media addiction scores than their female counterparts (β = 4.52, p < 0.001). Students' academic performance was negatively associated with social media addiction scores. Moreover, students with symptoms of depression (β = 1.85, p = 0.005) or anxiety (β = 2.79, p = 0.003) had a higher BSMAS score compared to their counterparts. Further longitudinal studies are warranted to identify the causal factors of social media addiction, which would assist intervention initiatives by policymakers.

YouTube as an information source of floating agriculture: analysis of Bengali language contents quality and viewers' interaction

Bangladesh is physically low-lying and prone to flooding, making floating agriculture an appropriate method for dealing with floods and assisting farmers in coping. This YouTube content study was conducted to investigate the quality of information found on YouTube regarding floating agriculture in Bengali language, as well as viewers' interactions to such videos. The inquiry began with a search on https://www.youtube.com for the keyword ", ভাসমান কৃষি (Floating Agriculture)," which obtained 302 results. Following that, a total of 245 contents were discarded due to their inability to fulfill the inclusion criteria. Data on likes, dislikes, views, duration, comments, publisher type, and publishing year were retrieved from videos. The quality of contents was measured by a grading methodology that took into account two aspects: i) Comprehensive aspect; and ii) Floating agriculture aspect. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to investigate multiple comparisons (P < 0.05 considered as statistically significant). Viewers' Sentiments, emotion, and intention towards the videos were analyzed from comments. A total of 26.32% contents were of high quality, with the majority of videos released by independent publishers and the quantity of videos on an upward trend. According to floating agriculture video demographics, mean view (70816.60 ± 177319.129), mean like (818.56 ± 1992.700), mean duration (07:47 ± 06:48 min), and mean comment (18.40 ± 38.537). The amount of views, likes, and duration varied statistically significantly in relation to different content quality categories. Comments analysis revealed that the majority of the viewers' possessed positive sentiments and happy responses, whereas most of the comment was for feedback purposes. In conclusion, despite the fact that the number of high-quality videos on YouTube regarding floating agriculture was limited, viewers seem to be satisfied with those videos. This is the first paper that critically assessed the quality of floating agriculture -related YouTube videos as well as identified viewers' interaction towards those videos. This report highlights the present scenario of YouTube content regarding floating agriculture which will help content creators to produce quality videos. Understanding the viewers’ interaction would set new dimensions in policy implications regarding effective information dissemination.

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Established quality grading standards for floating agricultural contents on YouTube.

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Quantity of floating agricultural contents are on upward trend.

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Limited good-quality contents on floating agriculture are present on YouTube.

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Views, Likes, Durations can be considered to judge contents quality.

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Public possess satisfactory acceptance intensity to floating agricultural contents.

Measurement Invariance of the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale Across Genders

Social media addiction has been a hot issue in scientific research in recent years, its antecedents and consequences have been extensively studied. Among these studies, Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) is one of the most commonly used instruments. However, little is known about whether this scale has the equivalent psychometric properties for men and women. The purpose of the current study is to examine the measurement invariance (including configural invariance, metric invariance, scalar invariance, and error variance invariance) of the BSMAS across genders. In total, 1,120 participants were recruited from 5 universities. R program was applied to conduct the single-group and multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) based on the social media addiction symptom ratings. The results demonstrated that BSMAS was a valid and psychometrically robust instrument for assessing the risk of social media addiction among university students, and that the four types of measurement invariance of the BSMAS across genders were confirmed. Consequently, gender differences in the BSMAS scores are likely to reflect the genuine differences between men and women, and comparisons on the level of social media addiction of university students between gender groups can be interpreted meaningfully.

Modern Multivariate Statistical Methods for Evaluating the Impact of WhatsApp on Academic Performance: Methodology and Case Study in India

Despite the increasing amount of research on social media, there are few studies on the use of WhatsApp to assess academic performance. Surprisingly, students use social media during lectures, causing a problem. According to the literature, students utilize WhatsApp throughout academic activities where it is prohibited. Researchers and policymakers must pay attention to this problem to understand its impact on academic achievement. In this paper, by using multivariate statistical methods, we investigate the impact of WhatsApp use on academic performance. We construct a questionnaire for this investigation and apply it to a case study based on a sample of 258 students of management from India. We determine the prevalence of WhatsApp employment among these students and note that many of them utilize the app for academic purposes. We found a positive association between time spent on WhatsApp and students’ grade point average (GPA) based on factor, principal component, correlation, and chi-square analyses. Answering questions on the app in class is related to the program’s ability to help students learn. More use of the app in class leads to a lower GPA. However, sometimes, using the app might help students learn and perform better. We identify that many students disseminate materials through the app for academic purposes, contributing to their academic performance. Furthermore, this app is utilized for communicating with their teachers. Computations were carried out with the R and SPSS software.