TY - JOUR
T1 - Pharmacy students' facebook activity and opinions regarding accountability and e-professionalism
AU - Cain, Jeff
AU - Scott, Doneka R.
AU - Akers, Paige
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Objective. To assess pharmacy students' Facebook activity and opinions regarding accountability and e-professionalism and determine effects of an e-professionalism education session on pharmacy students' posting behavior. Methods. A 21-item questionnaire was developed, pilot-tested, revised, and administered to 299 pharmacy students at 3 colleges of pharmacy. Following a presentation regarding potential e-professionalism issues with Facebook, pharmacy students with existing profiles answered an additional question concerning changes in online posting behavior. Results. Incoming first-year pharmacy students' Facebook usage is consistent with that of the general college student population. Male students are opposed to authority figures' use of Facebook for character and professionalism judgments and are more likely to present information they would not want faculty members, future employers, or patients to see. More than half of the pharmacy students planned to make changes to their online posting behavior as a result of the e-professionalism presentation. Conclusions. There is high social media usage among pharmacy students and many do not fully comprehend the issues that arise from being overly transparent in online settings. Attitudes toward accountability for information supplied via social networking emphasize the need for e-professionalism training of incoming pharmacy students.
AB - Objective. To assess pharmacy students' Facebook activity and opinions regarding accountability and e-professionalism and determine effects of an e-professionalism education session on pharmacy students' posting behavior. Methods. A 21-item questionnaire was developed, pilot-tested, revised, and administered to 299 pharmacy students at 3 colleges of pharmacy. Following a presentation regarding potential e-professionalism issues with Facebook, pharmacy students with existing profiles answered an additional question concerning changes in online posting behavior. Results. Incoming first-year pharmacy students' Facebook usage is consistent with that of the general college student population. Male students are opposed to authority figures' use of Facebook for character and professionalism judgments and are more likely to present information they would not want faculty members, future employers, or patients to see. More than half of the pharmacy students planned to make changes to their online posting behavior as a result of the e-professionalism presentation. Conclusions. There is high social media usage among pharmacy students and many do not fully comprehend the issues that arise from being overly transparent in online settings. Attitudes toward accountability for information supplied via social networking emphasize the need for e-professionalism training of incoming pharmacy students.
KW - E-professionalism
KW - Facebook
KW - Online social networking
KW - Professionalism
KW - Technology
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U2 - 10.5688/aj7306104
DO - 10.5688/aj7306104
M3 - Article
C2 - 19885073
AN - SCOPUS:70349645707
SN - 0002-9459
VL - 73
JO - American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education
JF - American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education
IS - 6
M1 - 104
ER -