Home About us Editorial board Search Ahead of print Current issue Archives Submit article Instructions Subscribe Contacts Login 
Print this page Email this page Users Online: 556
 
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Ahead of Print

Effectiveness of structured education through social media to medical students


1 Public Health Specialist, Jodhpur Cantt, Rajasthan, India
2 Department of Pharmacology, Army College of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
3 Public Health Specialist, Jalandhar Cantt, Punjab, India
4 PhD Scholar, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum, Kerala, India
5 Specialist, Hospital Administration, Firozepur Cantt, Punjab, India
6 Executive Director, National Health Systems Resource Centre, New Delhi, India

Correspondence Address:
R Vishnuprasad,
No. 22, Muthu Nagar, Muthirayarpalayam, Puducherry - 605 009
India
Login to access the Email id

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None

DOI: 10.4103/mjdrdypu.mjdrdypu_246_21

Background: Various advantages are advocated for Internet-based tools over in-person/print educational materials as these tend to curb certain barriers of communication. Social media can be used productively in improving knowledge of the mass. The present study was carried out with an aim to evaluate the effectiveness of structured educational programs through social media to medical college students. Methods: The present study was carried out as an uncontrolled before-after intervention study among students of fourth and sixth semester of a medical college in New Delhi. The study sample comprised 195 students for whom structured education materials on Disaster management and Pharmacovigilance were shared using social media platforms. Statistical Analysis: Data entry was done using MS Excel 2013 and Data Analysis using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) version 21.0. McNemar test was used to measure statistical significance between paired proportions and paired t-test was applied to test for difference in means. A P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean age of the study participants was 20.75 ± 1.2 years. The proportion of study participants who preferred receiving education material more than once a day increased from 33.5% at the beginning of study to 44.1% after the intervention (P < 0.001). Majority of the students stated Facebook as the most preferred media at the beginning (56.6%), and this increased to 96.3% at the end of intervention. Mean posttest scores of all study participants were found to significantly high as compared to that of pretest score with respect to the intervention subjects (7.9 ± 2.6–15 ± 2.6, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Learning materials in digital formats for medical education when shared through social media platforms positively influence the knowledge of the students. The preferences of students on type of social media platform for such learning activities are varied.


Print this article
Search
 Back
 
  Search Pubmed for
 
    -  Vishnuprasad R
    -  Tejus A
    -  Pasricha SK
    -  Singh G
    -  Ojha D
    -  Kotwal A
 Citation Manager
 Article Access Statistics
 Reader Comments
 * Requires registration (Free)
 

 Article Access Statistics
    Viewed1131    
    PDF Downloaded20    

Recommend this journal