Correlation of Communication Skills and Social Networking in Health Care Students
Aim: To study the relationship between of the use of social networking services on health professions students’ written and oral communication skills.
Background: Faculty noted anecdotal concern about the decline of students’ oral and written communication skills in an electronic age of students’ increasing use of social media. Social networks were considered as: using instant messaging, text messaging, social networking websites such as Facebook, online virtual worlds, and contributing content to wikis, blogs, and video websites. Because little research had been done on links between social networking and communication skills, an interprofessional research team implemented a study to determine if there was a relationship between social networking usage and oral and written communication skills for health care students.
Method: An exploratory correlational design studied students’ communication skills from oral and written assignments in a healthcare ethics course required of all health professions students. Participants included undergraduate and graduate health professions students in nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy, and health services administration. All students completed a technology assessment questionnaire and were assessed for oral and written communication by using 5-point Likert scale VALUE rubrics from the American Association of Colleges and Universities.
Results: A total of 132 students participated in the study with an average age of 28.7 years old (±9.3) with a range of 18-56 years of age. The average number of hours on the Internet weekly was 20.7 (±14.7). Contrary to expected findings, the study found no meaningful relationships between frequency of social network usage and oral and written communication skills in health professions students. A negative correlation was found between students’ written communication scores and the frequency students contributed to Wikis (r=0.25, p<0.01). No statistically significant results were found between communication scores and frequency of accessing the Internet from a handheld device. Nearly one-third of the participants reported using handheld devices in class for non-class activities.
Implications: One of the most frequent complaints by faculty is that current students with increased use of social networking lack the level of communication skills of previous generations. The age of the participants may have affected the study results. One possible reason is that the students in the study entered the era of social networking at a time when they had already learned proper communication skills. Ultimately, this study found no meaningful correlation between frequency of social network usage and oral and written communication skills in health professions students. It is no surprise that faculty should be aware of students use of technology in class for non-class activities.