Titilayo Dorothy Odetola
University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Title: Outcomes of Social Mobile Media Intervention on Clinical Posting in two Nursing Schools, Ogun State, Nigeria
Biography
Biography: Titilayo Dorothy Odetola
Abstract
Evidence shows that there existed a gap between theory and practice components in nursing education due to various factors, which calls for the design and implementation of new strategies in meeting challenges nursing students faced from time to time regarding the gap between theory and practice. One of these strategies is the use of social media messaging otherwise known as Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM). Although MIM has changed global communication practice, relatively little is known about its role in nursing education. This study, therefore, aimed at investigating the effectiveness of facilitated Mobile Instant Messaging (WhatsApp) group during student nurses’ clinical posting in enhancingthe application of knowledge and their socio-professional immersion.
A quasi-experiment design was adopted and 62 consenting nursing students from two government-owned Schools of Nursing in Ogun State, South West, Nigeria were recruited into the study. Participants were categorised into two groups; Intervention and Control groups. The intervention was a moderator facilitated WhatsApp group amongparticipants in the intervention group that lasted for 6 weeks. Mixed methods were used for data collection
Most participants reported having participated/contributed well in the social media group platform created for them. Participants also indicated that the WhatsApp group was beneficial as it broadens their knowledge on topical issues discussed and served as a sourcefor sharing information and learning. The mean age in the intervention group was 22.2 ± 4.1 years and 23.4 ± 3.7 yearsin the control group. Almost all respondents (92.6%)in the intervention group compared with 57.2% in the Control group indicated that they continuously received feedback from their moderator through MIM platform. All participants(100%) in the Intervention group and 97.1%in the Control group frequently apply theory/knowledge gained from the training in school during clinical posting. Challenges faced while participating include bulky nature of posts, network, insufficient data bundle, erratic electricity supply. Overall,51.9% ofparticipants in the Intervention group compared with 11.4% in the Control group had good knowledge of topics discussed.
Use of MIM during clinical posting waseffective in improving nursing students’ knowledge and connecting with others. Its use can be integrated into nursing education to enhance learning and prevent feelings of isolation among student nurses during clinical practice.
Acknowledgements
We thank all the students who participated in the group discussions. We express our appreciation to all the administrators of the schools of nursing who gave permission to conduct the study. We also wish to thank the r4d programme of the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation for their financial support of this study (IZ07ZO_l60910).