How Do Dieticians on Instagram Teach? The Potential of the Kirkpatrick Model in the Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Nutritional Education in Social Media.

Łucja Zielińska-Tomczak,Szymon Tomczak,Magdalena Cerbin-Koczorowska,Izabela Krzyśko-Pieczka,Piotr Przymuszała,Ryszard Marciniak

doi:10.3390/nu13062005

Łucja Zielińska-Tomczak, Szymon Tomczak + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13062005

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Journal: Nutrients	Publication Date: Jun 10, 2021
Citations: 8	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Poznan University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

The growing popularity of health education on social media indicates the need for its appropriate evaluation. This paper aims to present the potential of the Kirkpatrick Model (KM) with New World Kirkpatrick Model (NWKM) additions to evaluate the nutritional education provided by dieticians via Instagram. Instagram profiles of ten dieticians providing nutritional education for their followers were analyzed in March and April 2021. The study sample included profiles of both macro- and micro-influencers. The analyzed quantitative data included Instagram Engagement Rate and the number of likes and comments per post. The qualitative analysis of the comments was performed following the theoretical framework provided by the KM and NWKM. Collected data showed followers’ satisfaction, commitment, and relevance of the presented content, fulfilling the Level 1 of NWKM. Level 2 of NWKM was represented by 4 out of 5 dimensions (knowledge, attitude, confidence, commitment). No comments were found only for skills. Both Levels 3 (Behavior) and 4 (Results) of the KM were met. However, the use of the NWKM for them seems limited. The KM can be used to evaluate nutritional education on social media. The NWKM additions seem applicable mostly for Levels 1 and 2.

Highlights

In the last decade, we can observe an increased interest in the Internet as a source of information with social media (SM), becoming a ubiquitous factor in everyday life of humans [1,2]
Among ten Instagram profiles run by dieticians that were included in the analysis, five had a range of 1000–100,000 followers, and five had over 100,000 followers [34]
The presented study showed the potential of using Kirkpatrick Model (KM) and New World Kirkpatrick Model (NWKM) as a tool for the evaluation of health education conducted with the use of the Instagram social network

Summary

Introduction

We can observe an increased interest in the Internet as a source of information with social media (SM), becoming a ubiquitous factor in everyday life of humans [1,2]. SM meet many needs, including the need for belonging, acceptance, and social interactions [4], which is why they have nowadays become an integral part of daily Internet usage, with over 3.6 billion users worldwide in January 2020. This value will probably reach even up to 4.41 billion in 2025 [5]. Health educators and promoters have recognized SM’s potential to deliver accessible and enjoyable content for the recipients. Social media in health promotion are gaining popularity due to their availability, regardless of the existing physical barriers preventing direct health education. The attractiveness of running pro-health campaigns via social media is associated with lower costs of conducted actions [1,6,7]

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