Social Media Based-Instructions and Its Impact on Knowledge and Attitudes Among Nursing Students

Sunday, 28 July 2019: 3:40 PM

Ara Issabelle Lugo Mateo, BSN
University of Santo Tomas, City of Malolos, Philippines
Maria Aleyna Pabustan Medina, BSN
University of Santo Tomas, Macabebe, Philippines
Elaine Kareena Robielos Mendoza, BSN
University of Santo Tomas, San Rafael, Philippines
Nathan John Adriano Mones, BSN
University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines

Background: Unprecedented changes in the climate and the environment pose fundamental threats to human well- being and health. Climate change can aggravate existing health conditions and even lead to new diseases and conditions. Student nurses, can be tapped as valuable resources in disseminating information about climate change and its impact to public health. However, few studies have explored the use of social media in climate change education among nurses. Considering the overwhelming popularity of social media, social media based instructions have a tremendous potential in enhancing the educational experiences of student nurses. Thus, this study was conducted to assess the effect of social media based - instructions on the knowledge and attitude of nursing students regarding the health impact of climate change.

Methods: The study utilized a quasi - experimental design focusing on the the use of social media-based instructions, specifically Facebook, to increase the knowledge and attitude of nursing students regarding climate change and its health impact. A total of eighty nursing students from a selected college of nursing participated in the study. Two instruments were employed to gather the needed data. A pre-test and post-test were utilized to measure the knowledge of the nursing students about climate change and its health impact while the climate change attitude survey was utilized to measure their attitude towards climate change. The intervention was implemented for 10 days and data was subsequently subjected to statistical analysis.

Results: Results showed that there was a significant difference between the knowledge (p=0.040) and attitude (p=0.034) of the experimental group after providing the intervention These findings imply that the social media- based instructions utilizing Facebook as an online platform improved the knowledge and attitudes of the experimental group regarding climate change and its impact to health.

Conclusion: The intervention can serve as a complementary or alternative teaching-learning strategy that can assist in educating nursing students about environmental issues and its impact to public health.

Keywords: Climate change, Social Media, social media-based instructions, nursing students

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