MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted at a private university in Malaysia. A total of 188 undergraduate dental students were interviewed using a pre-tested and self-rated questionnaire. Data collected from participants were analysed using SPSS version 18.0. Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test and multiple logistic regression analyses were applied to study the relationship between explanatory variables and excessive Facebook use and excessive mobile texting.
RESULTS: The prevalence of excessive Facebook use and excessive mobile texting amongst undergraduate dental students was found to be 33.2% and 33.0%, respectively. According to a multivariate analysis, texting habits, such as the presence of daytime sleepiness after texting late at night (aOR = 2.682, 95% CI = 1.142-6.301) and the presence of anxious feelings if students failed to receive a timely response (aOR = 3.819, 95% CI = 1.580-9.230), were determined to be significant predictors of excessive mobile texting. Excessive Facebook use was found to be significantly related to three variables as follows: fewer numbers of close friends (aOR = 2.275, 95% CI = 1.057-4.898), the checking of updates on the Facebook walls of their friends (aOR = 2.582, 95% CI = 1.189-5.605) and the absence of active and vigorous feelings during Facebook use (aOR = 3.401, 95% CI = 1.233-9.434).
CONCLUSIONS: Approximately one-third of undergraduate dental students in this study experienced excessive Facebook use and/or excessive mobile texting. Health education and promotion should be instituted to create awareness, whilst students should be advised to practise self-control with respect to both mobile texting and Facebook usage.
METHODS: We searched PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews from database inception to 31 August 2018 for systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses of studies that examined the impact of distal technology and reported any clinical or patient-related outcomes among people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
RESULTS: The umbrella review identified 95 reviews, including 162 meta-analyses with 46 unique outcomes. Evidence from meta-analyses of randomized controlled studies supports the use of distal technology, especially telehealth and mHealth (healthcare delivered by mobile technology), in people with diabetes for improving HbA1c values by 2-4 mmol/mol (0.2-0.4%). For other health outcomes, such as changes in fasting plasma glucose levels, risk of diabetic ketoacidosis or frequency of severe hypoglycaemia, the evidence was weaker. No evidence was reported for most patient-reported outcomes including quality of life, self-efficacy and medication-taking. The evidence base was poor, with most studies rated as low to very low quality.
CONCLUSION: Distal technologies were associated with a modest improvement in glycaemic control, but it was unclear if they improved major clinical outcomes or were cost-effective in people with diabetes. More robust research to improve wider outcomes in people with diabetes is needed before such technologies can be recommended as part of routine care for any patient group.
RECENT FINDINGS: Twelve studies were included in this review. A team of multidisciplinary healthcare professionals coordinated most interventions, half of which lasted for 6 months, and used a combination of videos, texts, images or audio to deliver the educational materials. The glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level improved in most of the studies, followed by diabetes self-care and fasting plasma glucose. The dietary intakes were only assessed in two interventions among the individuals with prediabetes and showed promising improvements. This scoping review provides a holistic overview of the recent designs of lifestyle interventions for diabetes management and prevention on social media. This is essential for various healthcare professionals and stakeholders to formulate and implement population-based, cost-effective interventions in combating diabetes using social media.
METHODS: The social media analytics site SocialBlade.com was used to identify the most popular YouTube videos (n = 250) targeting children. Ads encountered while viewing these videos were recorded and analyzed for type of product promoted and ad format (video vs. overlay). Food and beverage ads were further coded based on food category and persuasive marketing techniques used.
RESULTS: In total 187 ads were encountered in sampled videos. Food and beverage ads were the most common at 38% (n=71), among which 56.3% (n = 40) promoted noncore foods. Ads for noncore foods were more commonly delivered as video rather than overlay ads. Among ads promoting noncore foods, the most commonly employed persuasive marketing techniques found were taste appeal (42.3%), uniqueness/novelty (32.4%), the use of animation (22.5%), fun appeal (22.5%), use of promotional characters (15.5%), price (12.7%), and health and nutrition benefits (8.5%).
CONCLUSIONS: Similar to television, unhealthy food ads predominate in content aimed toward children on YouTube. Policies regulating food marketing to children need to be extended to cover online content in line with a rapidly-evolving digital media environment. Service providers of social media can play a part in limiting unhealthy food advertising to children.
METHODS: A three-dimensional short animation was developed for the Burn and Blast Injury Awareness campaign. It was launched during the fasting month and Eid 2020 when firecracker-related injuries are highly incident in Malaysia. The video was launched primarily on Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Wau Animation Sdn Bhd social media platforms. Each party shared the video on the top 3 social media platforms, which are Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. The numbers of viewers, reaches, and shares, and demographic data were captured at 1 month after the release.
RESULTS: We recorded 29,585 views, 60,920 reach, and 874 shares from the USM and Wau Animation platforms alone. The USM Facebook platform showed predominant female viewership (60%), whereas the Wau Facebook platform showed predominant male viewership (66%). In both platforms, the viewers were aged 18-34 years.
CONCLUSION: Health awareness campaigns on digital platforms are powerful because the message spreads faster, and it is also safe during the pandemic.
Results: The mean age of patients in group 1 was 6.8 ± 2.1 years, group 2: 8.15 ± 2.27 years, group 3: 7.5 ± 2.3 years, and group 4: 7.27 ± 1.68 years. The intragroup comparisons of heart rate and facial image scores have shown a significant difference in before and after dental treatment procedures. Marked reduction in heart rate and facial image scale scores were found in patients belonging to group 1 (mobile applications) and group 2 (dental video songs). An increase in heart rate and facial image scale scores was seen in group 3 (tell-show-do) and the control group.
Conclusion: The paediatric dental anxiety is a common finding in dental clinics. Behavior modification techniques like smartphone applications, "little lovely dentist," and "dental songs" can alleviate dental anxiety experienced by paediatric patients. The "tell-show-do" technique although most commonly used did not prove to be beneficial in the reduction of the anxiety levels.
METHODS: An online survey collected 240 responses from women social media users. The questionnaire was divided into demographics, social media use patterns like access, online time, frequency of use, social media uses, online social capital and psychological well-being. The obtained responses were statistically analyzed using Smart PLS.
RESULTS: Pakistani women use social media extensively; however, their uses are culturally influenced. The women use social media and socialize online but do not openly disclose their personalities and emotions to extend the connection. They seek information only from acquaintances and do not trust newly developed online contacts. Therefore, the mediation role of bonding social capital is significant, referring to the importance of close ties and trust in psychological well-being. Though virtual spaces provide an opportunity for bridging social capital, women use social media for socialization; however, it doesn't contribute to women's psychological well-being.
CONCLUSION: Despite the higher penetration of digital technologies, cultural power still rules in developing countries like Pakistan. Social media uses are gender- and culturally specific, contributing to psychological well-being and developing social capital. The results from Pakistani society recommend ensuring a secure digital experience for women to get maximum benefits from social media and enhance their psychological well-being.
METHOD: A content analysis was conducted on the anonymous posts retrieved from the WSIF platform between 8th March 2020 and 7th July 2022. Around 1457 posts were initially selected for analysis which was reduced to 1006 after removing duplicates and non-relevant posts, such as queries about the addresses of the doctors and other non-mental health-related issues. A thematic analysis of the data was conducted using an inductive approach.
RESULT: The 1006 posts generated four themes and nine sub-themes. All the women mentioned mental health symptoms (n = 1006; 100%). Most also mentioned reasons for seeking mental healthcare (n = 818; 81.31%), healthcare-seeking behavior (n = 667; 66.30%), and barriers to seeking mental healthcare (n = 552; 54.87%). The majority of women described symptoms of stress, depression, and anxiety-like symptoms, which were aggregated under common mental health conditions. Mental health symptoms were ascribed to various external influences, including marital relationship, intrafamilial abuse, and insecurities related to the COVID-19 pandemic. A large proportion of posts were related to women seeking information about mental healthcare services and service providers (psychologists or psychiatrists). The analysis found that most women did not obtain mental healthcare services despite their externalized mental health symptoms. The posts identified clear barriers to women accessing mental health services, including low mental health literacy, the stigma associated with mental healthcare-seeking behavior, and the poor availability of mental health care services.
CONCLUSION: The study revealed that raising mass awareness and designing culturally acceptable evidence-based interventions with multisectoral collaborations are crucial to ensuring better mental healthcare coverage for women in Bangladesh.
METHODS: We searched the databases of PubMed, ProQuest, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and EBSCO host using (professionalism AND (professionalism OR (professional identity) OR (professional behaviors) OR (professional values) OR (professional ethics))) AND ((social media) AND ((social media) OR (social networking sites) OR Twitter OR Facebook)) AND (health professionals). The research questions were based on sample (health professionals), phenomenon of interest (digital professionalism), design, evaluation and research type. We screened initial yield of titles using pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria and selected a group of articles for qualitative analysis. We used the Biblioshiny® software package for the generation of popular concepts as clustered keywords.
RESULTS: Our search yielded 44 articles with four leading themes; marked rise in the use of social media by healthcare professionals and students, negative impact of social media on digital professionalism, blurring of medical professional values, behaviors, and identity in the digital era, and limited evidence for teaching and assessing digital professionalism. A high occurrence of violation of patient privacy, professional integrity and cyberbullying were identified. Our search revealed a paucity of existing guidelines and policies for digital professionalism that can safeguard healthcare professionals, students and patients.
CONCLUSIONS: Our systematic review reports a significant rise of unprofessional behaviors in social media among healthcare professionals. We could not identify the desired professional behaviors and values essential for digital identity formation. The boundaries between personal and professional practices are mystified in digital professionalism. These findings call for potential educational ramifications to resurrect professional virtues, behaviors and identities of healthcare professionals and students.
METHODS: Dental students from 4 institutions in Malaysia and Finland completed self-administered questionnaires on the practices and perceptions of SM use. The main variables assessed were the perceptions and practices of student-patient and student-faculty communication on SM, between the two countries. Students' country, age, gender, time spent on SM and perceived importance of communicating dental related aspects over SM were analysed as potential explanatory variables. Crosstabulation was used to estimate the distributions of the response variables by the background characteristics. Multivariate analyses were performed using a dichotomous logistic regression model to investigate relevant associations between the responses and the explanatory variables independent from other factors.
RESULTS: A total of 643 students completed the survey in March-April 2021. More Malaysian students agreed with "guiding patients online is a new responsibility for dentists in the digital age" compared to Finnish students (86.4% vs. 73.4%). Similarly, significantly more Malaysian students befriended patients (14.1% vs. 1%) and invited faculty to be friends on SM (73.6% vs. 11.8%). Expectedly, clinical year students befriended patients more than pre-clinical (13.8% vs. 6.8%). Significantly more students who felt 'communication of dental related issues over SM' were likely to extend friend requests to faculty rather than accept patient friend requests.
CONCLUSIONS: Social media regulations and socio-cultural practices contribute to dental students' attitudes and behaviour when befriending patients and faculty members on social media. Future dental curriculum should incorporate guidelines for professional communication on social media based on local and cultural needs. Students' should be encouraged to interact with their patients using professional identities on social media.