Abstract
Learning modifications particularly increased due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, which made it necessary to offer distance health education for many months. Social media allows students to have interactive activities such as discussing specific subjects or sharing data with each other, and also to have interactions with their teachers and tutors. So, we aimed to compare the effects of the use of social media on knowledge, skills and perceptions in health students compared to other methods. We performed a systematic review on PubMed, ScienceDirect and Embase about comparative learning methods using social media. The search followed PRISMA guidelines, and the quality assessment of the studies was performed using the Medical Education Research Quality instrument (MERSQI). Eight studies were analyzed including 1014 participants. Mean age ranged from 19.9 to 23.4 years, and 70% were females. About 54.4% of the participants were medical students and 20.9% were dental students. The mean MERSQI was 11.7 ± 2.6. Various subjects were included—anatomy, cultural competences, sterile surgical techniques, radiology, arthrocentesis, medical pathologies and cariology. As far as knowledge evaluation was concerned, we found that the use of social media may have had a positive effect from a short-term point of view but results concerning skills were less consistent across studies. Students usually had a positive perception of the use of social media as a complementary method but not as a complete alternative so it is not excluded that this effect might result from an increase in working time. The impact on patient care should also be assessed in future studies.
Highlights
Health studies have undergone many changes in recent decades
In this systematic review we aimed to assess the impact of the use of social media on health students concerning their capacity to acquire knowledge and skills, and their perception on this new learning approach compared to traditional learning
For techniques classified as traditional method, we considered techniques using classroom or workshop teaching, where the teacher was the controller of the learning environment and, considered the unique source of knowledge [19]
Summary
Passive learning in the classroom or amphitheater tends to be supplemented by new teaching and learning approaches [1] These new methods may include video sessions, flipped classrooms or virtual classrooms and e-learning [2,3,4,5]. They seem to provide interesting results in terms of skills and knowledge improvement, but some studies may be more moderate in their results [6,7]. In the last two decades the use of social media has developed
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