Previously submitted to: JMIR Medical Education (no longer under consideration since Sep 01, 2021)
Date Submitted: Mar 15, 2021
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Roles and functions of a non-academic medical school Facebook page: A study of usage and survey data
ABSTRACT
Background:
Facebook is a well-established social networking platform that is commonly used by medical schools as an educational resource, but there are few studies assessing the roles of a non-academic Facebook page in medical education. Cardiff University uses Facebook primarily as a student support and engagement platform through its ‘C21’ Facebook Page.
Objective:
To explore the role of a non-academic Facebook page in medical faculty-student communication and examine how the page is perceived by the student body.
Methods:
We collected and analysed C21 Facebook Page usage data to obtain descriptive information on reach, engagement and content. We also distributed an anonymised survey to evaluate and explore users’ interest in, experience of and engagement with the content.
Results:
Of the 1021 posts on the page in 2019, the highest post-engagement rate occurred in the Student or Staff News category (13.5%) and the lowest in Medical Research News (3.5%). Survey feedback on the page was overwhelmingly positive (n=89; 84.8%), and respondents reported a high degree of trust (n=95; 90.5%) in the page. Students would like to see more ‘CV-building’ Opportunities advertised on the page.
Conclusions:
The C21 Facebook Page is an important resource in developing community within the medical school and facilitating student engagement with both the C21 course and wider medical opportunities. It is perceived as an appropriate channel of communication between the medical school and students.
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