Using Instagram to Enhance a Hematology and Oncology Teaching Module During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-sectional Study

#clearaligners and social media: An in-depth analysis of clear aligners' content on Instagram

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Clear aligners-related posts are popularized on social media platforms to educate patients and peers and to market aligners in dental practices. This study aimed to characterize the account credentials and content of the top-performing posts to understand the spread of clear aligners-related information on Instagram.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This cross-sectional web-based study analysed 13 Instagram clear aligners-related hashtags. Content analysis was performed for the "Top 10 posts" listed under the "Top" section for each hashtag within Instagram, as sorted by Instagram's algorithm. Data were analysed for the poster's background, credentials, role, post format, content, and engagement level ratio. Duplicate posts and those not relevant to clear aligners were excluded. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the collected data were conducted.

RESULTS

A total of 29 192 596 posts mentioned the selected hashtags, of which 130 posts were screened in this study. Most posts were authored by dentists (n = 84), 79.8% of them were orthodontic specialists. Self-promotional posts comprised 90.2%, while educational posts accounted for only 8.9%. Interestingly, the number of likes and comments received on posts by patients (n = 19, median = 112, IQR = 340) was significantly higher than those posted by dentists (n = 84, median = 93, IQR = 81.75) (P = .004).

CONCLUSION

More than 29 million posts about clear aligners were identified on Instagram. Orthodontists are the leading authors of aligners hashtags. However, the majority of the posts are self-promotional and have nonfactual information. Social media awareness among orthodontic specialists may help provide more evidence-based content about clear aligners and can act as an interactive networking and health communication platform.

Reaching a Wider Audience: Instagram's Role in Dairy Cow Nutrition Education and Engagement

The paper presents an overview of the usage of Instagram as a social media platform for teaching and engagement in the field of dairy cow nutrition and management. Our Instagram content, which includes posts, stories, hashtags, reels, and live videos, aims to educate and engage our followers and covers a wide range of topics, including research updates, student activities, and information on dairy cow health and welfare. This approach to education allows us to reach a larger audience while also providing a forum for interaction and discussion on essential dairy cow nutrition concerns.

An Important Strategy to Improve Adolescent Health Literacy: COVID-19 Modules in High School in Indonesia

OBJECTIVES

During the second coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) surge, cases increased sharply due to low awareness and compliance with measures to limit disease spread. Health literacy (HL) is an important component of public health initiatives, and schools are potential sources of health education to increase HL via the presentation of COVID-19 educational modules.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study involved an online questionnaire administered to students from 5 high schools in Surabaya and Sidoarjo, Indonesia, 6-7 weeks after the start of government-issued directives restricting public gatherings. We collected data on each respondent's age, gender, parental education, and socioeconomic variables. HL was determined by the Health Literacy Measure for Adolescents. We additionally measured their attitudes and behaviors related to preventing the spread of COVID-19. The students were asked if they watched the COVID-19 module at school, their feelings about vaccination, and preferred online sources of COVID-19-related information.

RESULTS

Most of the 432 respondents had viewed COVID-19 modules at school. Module exposure was associated with significantly higher total and domain-specific HL and more positive attitudes toward government-issued COVID-19 restrictions on travel and public gatherings (p<0.05). However, behaviors to prevent COVID-19 spread and vaccine acceptance were not associated with module exposure. Most students chose social media as their source of COVID-19-related information.

CONCLUSIONS

Schools can provide information to increase adolescents' HL and the public's support for health initiatives to prevent or limit the spread of COVID-19.

Using Instagram Stories to supplement a required self-care pharmacy course

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Social media is widely used among Americans, with Instagram being especially popular in adults under age 30. There are few examples of the use of Instagram in pharmacy education and no reports of student perspectives on using Instagram to supplement self-care pharmacy coursework. This article describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of a teaching innovation using Instagram Stories to supplement a required self-care course.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING

The instructors of Self-Care Therapeutics created an Instagram account to share content as an optional supplement to course topics. The account shares stories featuring real-time questions from friends and family of the instructors, product and device demonstrations, and discussion of current events or news related to over-the-counter products. An anonymous survey was sent to all students at the semester conclusion to gain student perceptions of the posted content. A focus group was conducted to further interpret the survey data.

FINDINGS

Of the 89 students enrolled, 51 completed the survey and 30 students followed the course account. Students agreed that the account was helpful for reinforcing information from class and provided information beyond what was discussed in class, but they had mixed perceptions of its utility for exam preparation and application to real life.

SUMMARY

Use of Instagram Stories as an alternative method to supplement content in a required self-care course is feasible and received well by students. Use of social media could improve perceived relevance of course topics to students.

Experiences of first year undergraduate nursing students using Instagram in their clinical practicum during COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Social media provides us with easy access to information. For students, it is an additional learning resource used in different types of theoretical and practical teaching methodologies.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this paper was to describe the perspective of undergraduate nursing students on the use of Instagram during their clinical practicums in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

DESIGN

A qualitative descriptive and exploratory study based on an interpretative framework.

SETTINGS AND PARTICIPANTS

First-year undergraduate nursing students at the Universidad Europea de Madrid were included.

METHODS

In-depth interviews and researchers' field notes were used to collect the data. Purposive sampling and inductive thematic analysis were applied. During the interviews, themes such as accompaniment during practicums or training opportunities were identified.

RESULTS

The use of Instagram helped students to feel closer to professors, identifying it as an opportunity to remedy the possible lack of connection between theory and practice. Moreover, Instagram helped them build an image of nursing in clinical practicum environments. By using Instagram, undergraduate nursing students were able to better integrate and apply the knowledge acquired at university during their clinical practicums in hospitals.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results can be applied to future studies on the use of social media platforms as teaching tools in clinical practicum settings and to observe the evolution of the image and role of nursing and its relationship with social media.