Article Review: The Acceptability of Social Media to Translate Evidence to Practice

Today’s post reviews a study that asked health researchers, clinicians and students to share their thoughts about social media as a knowledge translation tool. This is a topic that I’ve found to provoke wide ranging conversations around privacy (personal vs. professional use?), time (more efficient vs. one more thing to fit in?!) and general comfort (or lack thereof) with technology. Is social media a ‘must-do’ for clinicians and researchers, or a little bit terrifying? Can these platforms help increase access to evidence and disseminate research findings, or should they be strictly relegated for personal use?

Most clinicians and health researchers (who participated in this study) use social media

A team of clinicians and researchers explored these issues in a mixed methods study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research in 2015. Of the >800 health researchers (including students) and clinicians from Australia, Malaysia and India who responded to the survey, the majority reported using social media for personal (89.2%) or professional (80%) purposes. There was overwhelming support (95.9% in favour) for using these tools to find or share evidence… but far fewer did. A mere quarter of participants reported using social media to find evidence, and only 15% reported using it to communicate the results of research.

How clinicians and health researchers use social media in a professional context

The most frequently cited reason for professional use was “professional networking”; and Facebook was the most commonly used tool in both the personal and professional realm. Even in this relatively young cohort (65.7% were ≤34 years), those who were younger (<25 years) were most likely to use social media for professional use; not surprising, as confidence in using these tools decreased with age. However the younger group contributed less to the conversation, with >95% of their time spent reading, or contributing ‘small amounts’ to online forums.

Trust issues with social media

Where did social media rank as a method for staying up to date with research in this survey? At the bottom. Respondents preferred journals, mentors, conferences and in-services to social media for this purpose. How about barriers to use? While we might think that ‘lack of time’ to engage would rank high, it was in fact the perceived lack of trustworthiness of the information that ranked highest for barriers to obtaining professional information via social media. Privacy was frequently perceived as an obstacle to sharing information.

The researchers further unpacked these issues through interviews with 27 participants. Participants discussed social media as an evolving source of information which, over time, will likely improve in reputability and trustworthiness. They expressed concerns over blurring the personal and professional use of social media, and potential repercussions of getting this mix wrong. Importantly, the value of face-to-face interaction for networking and relationship building was emphasized (with the caveat being that social media did represent an affordable and convenient alternative to conferences and travel).

How to push social media use (and usefulness) forward

Where do the opportunities lie according to this research? Participants across age groups highlighted that training is important to enhance the use of social media in professional contexts, and discussed the potential — and limitations — of standardized or peer reviewed platforms and content as viable methods to improve trustworthiness.

Time to weigh in

How do these finding compare with your views and experience? What is your number one pitch for, or against using social media for professional purposes? Tweet us @KnowledgeNudge or comment below.

Want to read more on this?…If you’re new to the social media world, but intrigued…read Twitter for Hesitant Researchers to help you enter the conversation. If you’ve been engaging, and want to take it to the next level, find out all about Twitter Metrics here! And lastly, you can read the full article featured in this review here.

About the Author

Kristy Wittmeier previously served as the Centre for Healthcare Innovation’s Knowledge Translation Platform Director, while also serving as the Physiotherapy Innovations & Best Practice Coordinator for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. Her areas of interest include pediatric health and wellness, and advancing patient-oriented research and evidence-based KT in Manitoba.