Social Media Usage among Dental Undergraduate Students—A Comparative Study
Social media use among students has infiltrated into dental education and offers benefits but may also cause problems. The aim of this study was to explore and compare current social media usage among dental undergraduate students from two countries—Malaysia and Finland. A self-administered structur...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2021-10-01
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| Series: | Healthcare |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/11/1408 |
| _version_ | 1797510162782617600 |
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| author | Eswara Uma Pentti Nieminen Shani Ann Mani Jacob John Emilia Haapanen Marja-Liisa Laitala Olli-Pekka Lappalainen Eby Varghase Ankita Arora Kanwardeep Kaur |
| author_facet | Eswara Uma Pentti Nieminen Shani Ann Mani Jacob John Emilia Haapanen Marja-Liisa Laitala Olli-Pekka Lappalainen Eby Varghase Ankita Arora Kanwardeep Kaur |
| author_sort | Eswara Uma |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Social media use among students has infiltrated into dental education and offers benefits but may also cause problems. The aim of this study was to explore and compare current social media usage among dental undergraduate students from two countries—Malaysia and Finland. A self-administered structured online questionnaire was used. WhatsApp, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat were the services that were most familiar to the respondents from both countries. There were differences between the students from the two countries among the most preferred platforms. The most frequently used applications were WhatsApp (91.1% of students in Malaysia and 96.1% in Finland used it very frequently) and Instagram (74.3% of students in Malaysia and 70.0% in Finland used it very frequently). Students in Malaysia spent significantly more hours per week using the platforms as study tools than students in Finland. Over 80% of the Finnish dental students reported that lack of knowledge was not an issue in social media usage, while 85% of Malaysian students felt that lack of knowledge prevented them from using social media platforms frequently. The findings offer evidence that dental students used social media extensively. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T05:27:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-92d5f6c5f05143a9bdafd54a2e270cdc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-9032 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T05:27:43Z |
| publishDate | 2021-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Healthcare |
| spelling | doaj.art-92d5f6c5f05143a9bdafd54a2e270cdc2023-11-22T23:30:25ZengMDPI AGHealthcare2227-90322021-10-01911140810.3390/healthcare9111408Social Media Usage among Dental Undergraduate Students—A Comparative StudyEswara Uma0Pentti Nieminen1Shani Ann Mani2Jacob John3Emilia Haapanen4Marja-Liisa Laitala5Olli-Pekka Lappalainen6Eby Varghase7Ankita Arora8Kanwardeep Kaur9Faculty of Dentistry, Manipal University College Malaysia, Melaka 75150, MalaysiaMedical Informatics and Data Analysis Research Group, University of Oulu, 90014 Oulu, FinlandDepartment of Paediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, MalaysiaDepartment of Restorative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, MalaysiaResearch Unit of Oral Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, 90014 Oulu, FinlandResearch Unit of Oral Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu and Medical Research Centre Oulu, Oulu University Hospital, 90014 Oulu, FinlandFaculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, FinlandFaculty of Dentistry, Manipal University College Malaysia, Melaka 75150, MalaysiaFaculty of Dentistry, Manipal University College Malaysia, Melaka 75150, MalaysiaFaculty of Dentistry, Manipal University College Malaysia, Melaka 75150, MalaysiaSocial media use among students has infiltrated into dental education and offers benefits but may also cause problems. The aim of this study was to explore and compare current social media usage among dental undergraduate students from two countries—Malaysia and Finland. A self-administered structured online questionnaire was used. WhatsApp, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat were the services that were most familiar to the respondents from both countries. There were differences between the students from the two countries among the most preferred platforms. The most frequently used applications were WhatsApp (91.1% of students in Malaysia and 96.1% in Finland used it very frequently) and Instagram (74.3% of students in Malaysia and 70.0% in Finland used it very frequently). Students in Malaysia spent significantly more hours per week using the platforms as study tools than students in Finland. Over 80% of the Finnish dental students reported that lack of knowledge was not an issue in social media usage, while 85% of Malaysian students felt that lack of knowledge prevented them from using social media platforms frequently. The findings offer evidence that dental students used social media extensively.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/11/1408social media usedental studentssocial media platformsdental trainingMalaysiaFinland |
| spellingShingle | Eswara Uma Pentti Nieminen Shani Ann Mani Jacob John Emilia Haapanen Marja-Liisa Laitala Olli-Pekka Lappalainen Eby Varghase Ankita Arora Kanwardeep Kaur Social Media Usage among Dental Undergraduate Students—A Comparative Study Healthcare social media use dental students social media platforms dental training Malaysia Finland |
| title | Social Media Usage among Dental Undergraduate Students—A Comparative Study |
| title_full | Social Media Usage among Dental Undergraduate Students—A Comparative Study |
| title_fullStr | Social Media Usage among Dental Undergraduate Students—A Comparative Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social Media Usage among Dental Undergraduate Students—A Comparative Study |
| title_short | Social Media Usage among Dental Undergraduate Students—A Comparative Study |
| title_sort | social media usage among dental undergraduate students a comparative study |
| topic | social media use dental students social media platforms dental training Malaysia Finland |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/11/1408 |
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