As future professionals, nursing students are expected to exhibit online professionalism and to be responsible users of social media. However, the rapid sharing of information on social media exposes nursing students to the risk and danger of spreading unprofessional behaviors. This study aimed to determine the nursing students’ attitude toward responsible use of social media. A descriptive cross-sectional research design was utilized among nursing students (N=298) in a College of Nursing in Iloilo City, Philippines. The Responsible Use of Social Media Attitude Scale (RUSMAS) was used to collect the data and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test and ANOVA. Results revealed that while majority of nursing students had positive attitude, there were still a few who were ambivalent toward responsible use of social media. A significant difference was found in the attitude of nursing students when grouped according to year level. Academic nursing institutions should continually educate students on responsible use of social media and develop approaches promoting social media literacy in nursing education.

1. NURSING STUDENTS’ ATTITUDE TOWARD
RESPONSIBLE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA:
TOWARD SOCIA MEDIA LITERACY IN NURSING EDUCATION
Ryan Michael F. Oducado, MAN
Aira Joy P. Magarzo, RN
Mhonica R. Sales, RN
Patricia Mae A. Panes, RN
Joreem Theus P. Lapastora, RN

2. INTRODUCTION
PH is the TOP
internet user
worldwide
(Daterportal, 2019)
Nursing students
are wide
consumers of
social media
(Kakushi & Évora, 2016; Lahti et al.,
2017; Tubaishat, 2018).

3. Social Media
Literacy
the competent handling of
contents published on social
media platforms.
(Beheshti-Kashi & Makki, 2015)

4. As with any technology, there are also legal
and ethical issues associated with its use
(Nyangeni et al., 2015; Ross & Myers, 2017).
CODE OF ETHICS FOR NURSES
strongly dictates that nurses should keep
confidential information private.
DATA PRIVACY ACT or RA 10173
mandates that the human right of privacy
must be secured and protected.

5. Healthcare professionals including students
should be mindful of their interactions either
face-to-face or online.
(Nason et al., 2018)
Issues of professionalism
on social media are prevalent.
(Soares et al., 2017)
encountered at least a single occurrence of students
posting unprofessional content on social media.
(Marnocha et al., 2015)
of 293 schools of nursing

6. The rapid sharing of
information on
social media
exposes nursing
students to the risk
and danger of
spreading
unprofessional
behaviors like
BREACHES OF
PRIVACY &
CONFIDENTIALITY

7. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The aim of this study was to determine
the nursing students’ attitude toward
responsible use of social media and
whether or not significant differences
existed in their attitude when grouped
according to sex, year level, and hours
of spent daily on social media.

8. METHODS
Descriptive
cross-sectional
survey
1
College of Nursing
Iloilo City, Philippines
298
nursing students
141 first-year
157 fourth-year
STUDY DESIGN SETTING PARTICIPANTS
Female
73.49%
3-6 hours
Average time spent
on social media daily
Self-reported data collected
August to September of 2018

9. METHODS
Responsible Use of Social
Media Attitude Scale
(RUSMAS)
Content Validity: 4 experts
Pilot test: 33 students
Reliability: a = .76
INSTRUMENT
SPSS Version 23
Percentage
Mean
Standard Deviation
t-test
ANOVA
Significant if <.05
Written Informed
Consent Obtained
ETHICAL
CONSIDERATION
DATA ANALSYIS

10. RESULTS
Composite Attitude Towards Responsible Use of Social Media
POSITIVE
AMBIVALENT
NEGATIVE
Mean = 4.23 = POSITIVE ATTITUDE
1.00-2.33
2.34-3.66
3.67-5.00
89.9%
10.1%

11. Proportion of agreement on attitudinal statements
Agree
%
It is not all right to post sexually suggestive acts and contents on social media. 92.95
Bashing or hating others on social media is acceptable. 90.60
Social media posts should be thoroughly thought out. 90.26
Supporting social media post that contains racism is inappropriate. 89.26
Clinical cases of patients should not be shared on social media. 87.92
It is not fine to post photos or videos that contain people on illegal drugs. 86.24
Confidential information of patients cannot be posted on social media. 82.21
Only genuine news should be posted on social media. 78.86

12. Proportion of agreement on attitudinal statements
Agree
%
When commenting on social media, everything should be direct and clear. 75.17
Posting photos or videos on social media while smoking is not okay. 75.17
It is not okay to accept a friend request from someone who is a complete stranger. 73.45
Fake name or pseudonym on social media profile is considered not “cool”. 66.77
It is not a good idea to post on social media photos or videos taken in a clinical
environment.
64.77
It is bad to swear on social media. 55.37
Literature support:
Nursing students’ lack of awareness of a universally acceptable description of responsible use
of social media resulted to varying perceptions on how to use it responsibly. (Nyangeni et al., 2015)

13. Differences in Attitude Toward Responsible Use of Social Media
Variable M SD p-value
Sex .215
Male 4.18 .45
Female 4.25 .41
Year Level .001*
First Year 4.32 .41
Fourth Year 4.16 .42
Hours Spent Daily .240
1-2 hours 4.15 .47
3-4 hours 4.28 .40
5-6 hours 4.25 .42
7 hour and above 4.18 .40
*significant if p < .05

14. First-year nursing students in this study may feel more
compelled to behave appropriately and follow the
rules compared to the senior ones.
Senior nursing students may have strengthened their
positions to certain behaviors on social media
that could be considered vague and elusive.
Literature support:
Second semester students have less unethical behavior than other students. (Smith & Knudson, 2016)

15. Like Comment Share
While attitude is generally positive, there are still a few nursing students
who have ambivalent attitude toward responsible use of social media.
CONCLUSION
Remind students to consider the potential effects of social media use.
Without proper guidance, a potential rise in unprofessional behaviors can
be anticipated that may steer ethical and legal consequences.
Educate students on responsible use of social media.
Develop approaches promoting social media literacy in nursing education.
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16. Thank you for listening! Ryan Michael F. Oducado, MAN
Aira Joy P. Magarzo, RN