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- Title
The role of social media in the professional sphere of Finnish registered dietitians.
- Authors
Liikkanen, Jade; Virtanen, Heli E.K.; Mikkonen, Santtu; Laitinen, Aija L.
- Abstract
Background: With the widespread use of social media, understanding how healthcare professionals, such as dietitians, utilise these platforms for their work has gained interest. The aim of the current study was to describe how Finnish registered dietitians utilise various social media channels for professional purposes. The study also investigated the perceived social media skills of dietitians. Methods: A cross‐sectional study was conducted using an online survey administered between December 2022 and February 2023. The participants were 107 Finnish registered dietitians who held a master's degree suitable for the profession. The Fisher's exact test was employed for categorical variables, whereas the Kruskal–Wallis test was used for ordinal variables with multiple groups. Results: Out of the 107 participants, 62 (58%) reported using social media for professional purposes. The primary purposes across various social media channels were interaction with colleagues (80%) on Facebook, networking with professionals from other fields (86%) on LinkedIn and general monitoring of the field on Instagram (91%), Twitter (77%) and YouTube (58%). Dietitians' perceived social media skills were found to have a statistically significant relationship with age (p < 0.05) for all channels, except Twitter. Conclusions: The findings suggest that Finnish dietitians predominantly utilise social media for passive monitoring of the field, rather than actively sharing content with the public. Professional communication tends to take place within their own professional groups. Incorporating social media use into the official job description could serve as an encouraging factor to enhance the professional utilisation of social media among dietitians. Key points: In this cross‐sectional study, we found that 58% of the 107 Finnish registered dietitians utilised social media for professional purposes. Among them, 29% actively created content on social media.Facebook was predominantly used for colleague interaction; LinkedIn was used for networking with professionals from different fields; and Instagram, Twitter and YouTube were used for passively monitoring developments in the field of nutrition.Among the participants who did not use social media for professional purposes, the primary barriers reported were a lack of time, a general disinterest in social media and past negative encounters with it, including personal experiences and concerns about negative feedback aimed at dietitians or the content they share.
- Subjects
FINLAND; SOCIAL media; DIETITIANS' attitudes; CROSS-sectional method; FISHER exact test; KRUSKAL-Wallis Test; PEER relations; SCIENTIFIC observation; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; FACEBOOK (Web resource); AGE distribution; PROFESSIONAL employee training; BUSINESS networks; COMMUNICATION; TWITTER (Web resource); EDUCATIONAL attainment
- Publication
Journal of Human Nutrition & Dietetics, 2024, Vol 37, Issue 3, p726
- ISSN
0952-3871
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/jhn.13302