Effect and usability of the use of twitter as a complementary teaching tool in different subjects of nursing studies: Educational intervention study

Abstract

BackgroundSome social networks, such as Twitter (now known as X), have proven to be very useful for sharing and discussing multiple aspects related to the healthcare field. However, the use of Twitter as a method of communication and knowledge transfer to nursing students has been limited. ObjectivesTo evaluate the usability and effect of an educational intervention for monitoring additional content, through the social network Twitter, of various subjects of nursing studies (clinical nursing, community nursing, and nursing fundamentals). DesignAn exploratory experimental study was carried out through an educational intervention during the 2020–2021 and 2021–2022 academic years. SettingsFaculty of Nursing at the University of Salamanca, Spain.Participants were 308 students. MethodsStudents used Twitter to receive tweets about news or links to subject-related content. They also completed a pre-post questionnaire. ResultsA high degree of visualization and interaction of the study's Twitter account stands out, mainly in the subject clinical nursing. In relation to usability, the participants stated that they strongly agreed with aspects such as “thinking that it was easy to use the account” (59.4 %) as well as “imagining that the majority of colleagues would learn very quickly to use said account” (46.5 %).Students who used the account at least once a day obtained higher scores on the post-study knowledge questionnaire than those who used it less than once a day (p < 0.05), or those who used it 2 or 3 times during the study (p = 0.010). ConclusionsThe group of participants who used the Twitter account at least once a day stated that using the account was easy and that they would like to use it more frequently. Likewise, greater use of this tool was associated with a better score on a post-study knowledge questionnaire.