Examining Medical Students’ Social Media Beliefs and Behaviors and Their Relationship to Professional Identity

Examining Medical Students’ Social Media Beliefs and Behaviors and Their Relationship to... Few studies have assessed professional identity among medical learners and links between identity and unprofessional behaviors. This study applied identity fusion theory and professional identity formation to examine the relationship between medical students’ social media beliefs and behaviors and professional identity measured by a physician professional identity fusion pictorial item. The hypothesis was students who were more strongly fused with physicians as a group would report (a) stronger beliefs that students should be held accountable for their social media behavior and (b) more concerns about their own social networking behavior. Participants included 3473 first-, second-, third-, and fourth-year medical students at eight schools in Texas. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and regression analyses were conducted to explore if professional identity formation, measured by the physician professional identify (PPI) item, was related to social media beliefs about accountability and concerns about social media behavior. The degree of physician professional identity fusion was unrelated to concerns about social media behavior (p = 0.102). Analyses revealed students’ degree of physician professional identity fusion was positively associated with beliefs about accountability for social media behaviors (b = 0.085, p = 0.004). This suggests as students’ physician identity emerges, they are more likely to expect themselves and peers to represent the larger community of physicians professionally, at least in the realm of social media. While this study focused on beliefs and behaviors related to social media, the results are encouraging for professional identity formation in general. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Medical Science Educator Springer Journals

Examining Medical Students’ Social Media Beliefs and Behaviors and Their Relationship to Professional Identity

11 pages
Read Article
Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer_journal/examining-medical-students-social-media-beliefs-and-behaviors-and-u35iynbqIA
Publisher
Springer US
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by International Association of Medical Science Educators
Subject
Education; Medical Education
eISSN
2156-8650
D.O.I.
10.1007/s40670-018-0562-1
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Few studies have assessed professional identity among medical learners and links between identity and unprofessional behaviors. This study applied identity fusion theory and professional identity formation to examine the relationship between medical students’ social media beliefs and behaviors and professional identity measured by a physician professional identity fusion pictorial item. The hypothesis was students who were more strongly fused with physicians as a group would report (a) stronger beliefs that students should be held accountable for their social media behavior and (b) more concerns about their own social networking behavior. Participants included 3473 first-, second-, third-, and fourth-year medical students at eight schools in Texas. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and regression analyses were conducted to explore if professional identity formation, measured by the physician professional identify (PPI) item, was related to social media beliefs about accountability and concerns about social media behavior. The degree of physician professional identity fusion was unrelated to concerns about social media behavior (p = 0.102). Analyses revealed students’ degree of physician professional identity fusion was positively associated with beliefs about accountability for social media behaviors (b = 0.085, p = 0.004). This suggests as students’ physician identity emerges, they are more likely to expect themselves and peers to represent the larger community of physicians professionally, at least in the realm of social media. While this study focused on beliefs and behaviors related to social media, the results are encouraging for professional identity formation in general.

Journal

Medical Science Educator – Springer Journals

Published: Mar 26, 2018

References

  • Online posting of unprofessional content by medical students
    Chretien, KC; Greysen, SR; Chretien, JP; Kind, T
  • It’s your own risk: medical students’ perspectives on online professionalism
    Chretien, KC; Goldman, EF; Beckman, L; Kind, T
  • The intersection of online social networking with medical professionalism
    Thompson, LA; Dawson, K; Ferdig, R; Black, EW; Boyer, J; Coutts, J; Black, NP
  • Social media policies at US medical schools
    Kind, T; Genrich, G; Sodhi, A; Chretien, KC
  • ‘You’re judged all the time!’Students’ views on professionalism: a multicentre study
    Finn, G; Garner, J; Sawdon, M
  • Medical students’ use of Facebook to support learning: insights from four case studies
    Gray, K; Annabell, L; Kennedy, G
  • Reframing medical education to support professional identity formation
    Cruess, RL; Cruess, SR; Boudreau, JD; Snell, L; Steinert, Y
  • Formation of medical student professional identity: categorizing lapses of professionalism, and the learning environment
    Hendelman, W; Byszewski, A
  • Bridging and bonding interactions in higher education: social capital and students’ academic and professional identity formation
    Jensen, DH; Jetten, J
  • Identity identification and medical education: why should we care?
    Monrouxe, LV
  • Competency is not enough: integrating identity formation into the medical education discourse
    Jarvis-Selinger, S; Pratt, DD; Regehr, G
  • Caring, competence and professional identities in medical education
    MacLeod, A
  • Professional identity formation: creating a longitudinal framework through TIME (transformation in medical education)
    Holden, MD; Buck, E; Luk, J; Ambriz, F; Boisaubin, EV; Clark, MA; Michalic, AP; Sadler, JZ; Sapire, KJ; Spike, JP; Vince, A; Dalrymple, JL
  • Investigating the factors influencing professional identity of first-year health and social care students
    Adams, K; Hean, S; Sturgis, P; Clark, JM
  • Family physicians’ professional identity formation: a study protocol to explore impression management processes in institutional academic contexts
    Rodríguez, C; Pawlikowska, T; Schweyer, F-X; Lopez-Roig, S; Belanger, E; Burns, J; Huge, S; Pastor-Mira, MA; Tellier, PP; Spencer, S; Fiquet, L; Pereiro-Berenguer, I
  • The formation of professional identity in medical students: considerations for educators
    Goldie, J
  • Role of work-integrated learning in developing professionalism and professional identity
    Trede, F
  • Comics and medicine: peering into the process of professional identity formation
    Green, MJ
  • The development of professional identity and the formation of teams in the Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System’s Center of Excellence in Primary Care Education Program (CoEPCE)
    Meyer, EM; Zapatka, S; Brienza, RS
  • The development and evaluation of a Professional Self Identity Questionnaire to measure evolving professional self-identity in health and social care students
    Crossley, J; Vivekananda-Schmidt, P
  • Acculturation: advances in theory, measurement, and applied research
    Phinney, JS
  • Alumni and their alma mater: a partial test of the reformulated model of organizational identification
    Mael, F; Ashforth, BE
  • The social psychology of intergroup relations. 1979; 33–47
    Tajfel, H; Turner, JC
  • When group membership gets personal: a theory of identity fusion
    Swann, WB; Jetten, J; Gómez, A; Whitehouse, H; Bastian, B
  • Identity fusion: the interplay of personal and social identities in extreme group behavior
    Swann Jr, WB; Gómez, A; Seyle, DC; Morales, J; Huici, C
  • Identity fusion
    Swann Jr, WB; Buhrmester, MD
  • Identity fusion and self-sacrifice: Arousal as a catalyst of pro-group fighting, dying and helping behavior
    Swann, WB; Gomez, A; Huici, C; Morales, JF; Hixon, JG
  • Dying and killing for one’s group: identity fusion moderates responses to intergroup versions of the trolley problem
    Swann, WB; Gomez, A; Dovidio, JF; Hart, S; Jetten, J
  • What makes a group worth dying for? Identity fusion fosters perception of familial ties, promoting self-sacrifice
    Swann, WB; Buhrmester, MD; Gomez, A; Jetten, J; Bastian, B; Vazquez, A
  • Explaining lifelong loyalty: the role of identity fusion and self-shaping group events
    Newson, M; Buhrmester, M; Whitehouse, H
  • The anatomy of the professional lapse: bridging the gap between traditional frameworks and students’ perceptions
    Ginsburg, S; Regehr, G; Stern, D; Lingard, L
  • “It’s just a clash of cultures”: emotional talk within medical students’ narratives of professionalism dilemmas
    Monrouxe, LV; Rees, CE
  • Social medial use in medical education: a systematic review
    Cheston, CC; Flickinger, TE; Chisolm, MS
  • Pharmacy students’ Facebook activity and opinions regarding accountability and e-professionalism
    Cain, J; Scott, DR; Akers, P
  • Web 2.0 and social software: the medical student way of e-learning
    Sandars, J; Homer, M; Pell, G; Croker, T
  • Content of weblogs written by health professionals
    Lagu, T; Kaufman, EJ; Asch, DA; Armstrong, K
  • Privacy, professionalism and Facebook: a dilemma for young doctors
    MacDonald, J; Sohn, S; Ellis, P
  • Examining students’ intended image on Facebook: “What were they thinking?!”
    Peluchette, J; Karl, K
  • Social accountability and accreditation: a new frontier for educational institutions
    Boelen, C; Woollard, B
  • On the nature of identity fusion: insights into the construct and a new measure
    Gomez, A; Brooks, ML; Buhrmester, MD; Vazquez, A; Jetten, J; Swann Jr, WB
  • A schematic representation of the professional identity formation and socialization of medical students and residents: a guide for medical educators
    Cruess, RL; Cruess, SR; Boudreau, JD; Snell, L; Steinert, Y
  • The developing physician—becoming a professional
    Stern, DT; Papadakis, M
  • Professional identity formation in medical education for humanistic, resilient physicians: pedagogic strategies for bridging theory to practice
    Wald, HS; Anthony, D; Hutchinson, TA; Liben, S; Smilovitch, M; Donato, AA
  • The ties that bind us
    Whitehouse, H; Lanman, JA
  • Reimagining the self at late-career transitions: how identity threat influences academic physicians’ retirement considerations
    Onyura, B; Bohnen, J; Wasylenki, D; Jarvis, A; Giblon, B; Hyland, R; Silver, I; Leslie, K
  • Online social networking issues within academia and pharmacy education
    Cain, J
  • Medical professionalism: crossing a generational divide
    Walsh, C; Abelson, HT

You’re reading a free preview. Subscribe to read the entire article.

Try 2 weeks free now

DeepDyve is your
personal research library

It’s your single place to instantly
discover and read the research
that matters to you.

Enjoy affordable access to
over 18 million articles from more than
15,000 peer-reviewed journals.

All for just $49/month

Explore the DeepDyve Library

or browse the journals available

Search

Query the DeepDyve database, plus search all of PubMed and Google Scholar seamlessly

Organize

Save any article or search result from DeepDyve, PubMed, and Google Scholar... all in one place.

Access

Get unlimited, online access to over 18 million full-text articles from more than 15,000 scientific journals.

Your journals are on DeepDyve

Read from thousands of the leading scholarly journals from SpringerNature, Elsevier, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford University Press and more.

All the latest content is available, no embargo periods.

See the journals in your area

DeepDyve

Freelancer

DeepDyve

Pro

Price

FREE

$49/month
$360/year

Save searches from
Google Scholar,
PubMed

Create lists to
organize your research

Export lists, citations

Read DeepDyve articles

Abstract access only

Unlimited access to over
18 million full-text articles

Print

20 pages / month

PDF Discount

20% off

Sign up
for free
Start 14 day
Free Trial