International student nurses' use of social media for learning: A cross sectional survey

Background: Students use social media for sharing information and connecting with their friends, also for peer support, peer learning and student engagement. Research indicates that approximately twice the number of students were using social media for educational purposes compared to academic staff and almost all students discuss academic issues on social media. However, little is known about how diverse cohorts of student nurses use social media for specific purposes at different stages of their learning. Objectives: Identify how student nurses in each country of study use social media for learning. Identify how each generation of student nurses use social media for learning. Identify how student nurses use social media as their education progresses. Design: A cross-sectional survey. Settings: The study was undertaken across three countries Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the UK. Participants: Student nurses from each of the countries that consented to participate met the inclusion criteria. Methods: 1050 student nurses across the three countries self-completed the cross-sectional survey between March and September 2019. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: WhatsApp® was the most used platform for learning amongst participants. Watching videos and downloading articles represented two-thirds of social media usage for learning. Smart phones were the most used device to access social media. Kruskal-Wallis tests were significant (≤0.001) for checking social media and messaging in lecture, use of social media for studies and classroom activities by country, generation (except classroom activities) and year of education. Use of social media for classroom activities had no significance by generation. Conclusion: Country, generation and year of education are factors that influence the use of social media in student nurses' learning. These should be considered by Universities in curriculum development and in teaching and learning delivery. From a pragmatic approach, social media is available and used by a majority of student nurses and can be widely assimilated into the nursing curriculum.