Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Healthcare Professionals: Rapid Evidence-Based Review (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tea Vukusic Rukavina ◽  
Josko Viskic ◽  
Lovela Machala Poplasen ◽  
Danko Relic ◽  
Marko Marelic ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND As we are witnessing the evolution of social media (SM) use globally among the general population, popularity of SM has also been embraced by healthcare professionals. In the context of SM evolution and exponential growth of users, this rapid review summarizes recent findings about e-professionalism of healthcare professionals (HCPs). OBJECTIVE The objective of our study was to review and characterize the original peer-reviewed research studies published from November 1, 2014 to November 31,, 2018 on e-professionalism of healthcare professionals, to assess the quality of methodologies and approaches used, to explore the impact of social media on e-professionalism of healthcare professionals recognizing benefits and dangers of social media and to provide insights to guide future research in this area. METHODS A search of the literature was performed in December 2018 using 3 databases (PubMed, CINAHL and Scopus). The searches were conducted using the following defined search terms: 'professionalism’ AND 'social media' OR 'Internet' OR ‘Facebook’ OR ‘Twitter’ OR ‘Instagram’. The search strategy was limited to studies published in English. This rapid review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses and the Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews guidelines. RESULTS Of the 709 retrieved papers, a total of 58 studies were finally included in this review. Overall, the quality of the studies was satisfactory. Participants in the reviewed studies were from diverse healthcare professions. Medical health professionals were involved in about three-quarters of the studies. Three key benefits of SM on e-professionalism of HCPs were identified: 1) professional networking and collaboration, 2) professional education and training and 3) effectiveness of educational interventions about e-professionalism or impact of existing SM policies. For the selected studies, there are five recognized dangers of SM on e-professionalism of HCPs: 1) loosening accountability, 2) compromising confidentiality, 3) blurred professional boundaries, 4) depiction of unprofessional behavior, and 5) legal issues. This rapid review also recognizes recommendations for changes in educational curricula regarding e-professionalism or adopting novel approaches to existing SM policies as opportunities for improvement and barriers that influence HCPs use of SM in the context of e-professionalism. CONCLUSIONS Findings in reviewed studies indicate existence of both benefits and dangers of SM on e-professionalism of HCPs. Even though there are some barriers recognized, this review has highlighted existing recommendations for including e-professionalism in educational curricula of HCPs. Based on all evidence provided, this review provided new insights and guides for future research on this area. There is a clear need for robust research to investigate new emerging SM platforms, the efficiency of guidelines and educational interventions, and the specifics of each profession regarding their SM potential and usage. CLINICALTRIAL PROSPERO CRD42019131532; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42019131532

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-50
Author(s):  
Nicole M. Glenn ◽  
Lisa Allen Scott ◽  
Teree Hokanson ◽  
Karla Gustafson ◽  
Melissa A. Stoops ◽  
...  

Financial well-being describes when people feel able to meet their financial obligations, feel financially secure and are able to make choices that benefit their quality of life. Financial strain occurs when people are unable to pay their bills, feel stressed about money and experience negative impacts on their quality of life and health. In the face of the global economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, community-led approaches are required to address the setting-specific needs of residents and reduce the adverse impacts of widespread financial strain. To encourage evidence-informed best practices, a provincial health authority and community-engaged research centre collaborated to conduct a rapid review. We augmented the rapid review with an environmental scan and interviews. Our data focused on Western Canada and was collected prior to the pandemic (May–September 2019). We identified eight categories of community-led strategies to promote financial well-being: systems navigation and access; financial literacy and skills; emergency financial assistance; asset building; events and attractions; employment and educational support; transportation; and housing. We noted significant gaps in the evidence, including methodological limitations of the included studies (e.g. generalisability, small sample size), a lack of reporting on the mechanisms leading to the outcomes and evaluation of long-term impacts, sparse practice-based data on evaluation methods and outcomes, and limited intervention details in the published literature. Critically, few of the included interventions specifically targeted financial strain and/or well-being. We discuss the implications of these gaps in addition to possibilities and priorities for future research and practice. We also consider the results in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences.


2021 ◽  
pp. bmjebm-2021-111710
Author(s):  
Rebecca Abbott ◽  
Alison Bethel ◽  
Morwenna Rogers ◽  
Rebecca Whear ◽  
Noreen Orr ◽  
...  

ObjectiveThe academic and scientific community has reacted at pace to gather evidence to help and inform about COVID-19. Concerns have been raised about the quality of this evidence. The aim of this review was to map the nature, scope and quality of evidence syntheses on COVID-19 and to explore the relationship between review quality and the extent of researcher, policy and media interest.Design and settingA meta-research: systematic review of reviews.Information sourcesPubMed, Epistemonikos COVID-19 evidence, the Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews, the Cochrane COVID-19 Study Register, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science Core Collection and the WHO COVID-19 database, searched between 10 June 2020 and 15 June 2020.Eligibility criteriaAny peer-reviewed article reported as a systematic review, rapid review, overview, meta-analysis or qualitative evidence synthesis in the title or abstract addressing a research question relating to COVID-19. Articles described as meta-analyses but not undertaken as part of a systematic or rapid review were excluded.Study selection and data extractionAbstract and full text screening were undertaken by two independent reviewers. Descriptive information on review type, purpose, population, size, citation and attention metrics were extracted along with whether the review met the definition of a systematic review according to six key methodological criteria. For those meeting all criteria, additional data on methods and publication metrics were extracted.Risk of biasFor articles meeting all six criteria required to meet the definition of a systematic review, AMSTAR-2 ((A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews, version 2.0) was used to assess the quality of the reported methods.Results2334 articles were screened, resulting in 280 reviews being included: 232 systematic reviews, 46 rapid reviews and 2 overviews. Less than half reported undertaking critical appraisal and a third had no reproducible search strategy. There was considerable overlap in topics, with discordant findings. Eighty-eight of the 280 reviews met all six systematic review criteria. Of these, just 3 were rated as of moderate or high quality on AMSTAR-2, with the majority having critical flaws: only a third reported registering a protocol, and less than one in five searched named COVID-19 databases. Review conduct and publication were rapid, with 52 of the 88 systematic reviews reported as being conducted within 3 weeks, and a half published within 3 weeks of submission. Researcher and media interest, as measured by altmetrics and citations, was high, and was not correlated with quality.DiscussionThis meta-research of early published COVID-19 evidence syntheses found low-quality reviews being published at pace, often with short publication turnarounds. Despite being of low quality and many lacking robust methods, the reviews received substantial attention across both academic and public platforms, and the attention was not related to the quality of review methods.InterpretationFlaws in systematic review methods limit the validity of a review and the generalisability of its findings. Yet, by being reported as ‘systematic reviews’, many readers may well regard them as high-quality evidence, irrespective of the actual methods undertaken. The challenge especially in times such as this pandemic is to provide indications of trustworthiness in evidence that is available in ‘real time’.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42020188822.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Serge Dumont ◽  
Véronique Turcotte ◽  
Michèle Aubin ◽  
Lynn Casimiro ◽  
Mireille Lavoie ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective Inadequate deliberation processes about ethical problems occurring in palliative care settings may negatively impact both patients and healthcare professionals. Better knowledge of the palliative care professionals’ practices regarding such processes could help identify specific education needs to improve the quality of palliative care in the context of complex ethical situations. Therefore, this descriptive study aimed to (1) examine ethical deliberation processes in interprofessional teams in five palliative care settings; (2) identify organizational factors that constrain such processes; and (3) based on this knowledge, identify priority education needs for future and current palliative care professionals. Method The study involved three data collection activities: (1) direct observation of simulated interprofessional ethical deliberations in various palliative care settings; (2) individual semi-structured interviews; and (3) deliberative dialogues. Results Thirty-six healthcare professionals took part in the simulated ethical deliberations and in the deliberative dialogue activities, and 13 were met in an individual interview. The study results revealed suboptimal interprofessional collaboration and ethical deliberation competencies, particularly regarding awareness of the ethical issue under consideration, clarification of conflicting values, reasonable decision making, and implementation planning. Participants also reported facing serious organizational constraints that challenged ethical deliberation processes. Significance of results This study confirmed the need for professional education in interprofessional collaboration and ethical deliberation so that palliative care professionals can adequately face current and future ethical challenges. It also enabled the identification of educational priorities in this regard. Future research should focus on identifying promising educational activities, assessing their effectiveness, and measuring their impact on patient and family experience and the quality of palliative care.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Tinghui Hou ◽  
Qianhua Zheng ◽  
Xiumei Feng ◽  
Lu Wang ◽  
Ying Liu ◽  
...  

Objective. Since there is no consistent evidence on the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of mild cognitive impairment, this review aims to summarize and critically evaluate the methodological and reporting quality of systematic reviews (SRs). Methods. We comprehensively searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), Chinese Biomedical Literature (CBM), and Wanfang databases from the date of establishment to April 2019. Two authors independently selected the articles, collected the data, and assessed the identified and included SRs with the revised measurement tool to assess systematic reviews (AMSTAR 2) and preferred reporting items for SRs and meta-analyses (PRISMA). The quality of outcomes was evaluated by the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE). Results. Eleven SRs were included in this overview. The items of AMSTAR 2 in most SRs were poorly reported; only 3 SRs were rated as low quality by AMSTAR 2, and the remaining were rated as very low quality. A total of 8 SRs obtained a decent rating by PRISMA. With the GRADE tool, we have not found high-quality evidence that acupuncture is effective for mild cognitive impairment (MCI), so there is no certain conclusion on the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment for MCI. Conclusion. The methodological and reporting quality of SRs on acupuncture for MCI is substandard, and the quality of evidence is poor. In future research, more efforts are needed to improve the quality of SRs in this field.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 2097-2108
Author(s):  
Robyn L. Croft ◽  
Courtney T. Byrd

Purpose The purpose of this study was to identify levels of self-compassion in adults who do and do not stutter and to determine whether self-compassion predicts the impact of stuttering on quality of life in adults who stutter. Method Participants included 140 adults who do and do not stutter matched for age and gender. All participants completed the Self-Compassion Scale. Adults who stutter also completed the Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering. Data were analyzed for self-compassion differences between and within adults who do and do not stutter and to predict self-compassion on quality of life in adults who stutter. Results Adults who do and do not stutter exhibited no significant differences in total self-compassion, regardless of participant gender. A simple linear regression of the total self-compassion score and total Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering score showed a significant, negative linear relationship of self-compassion predicting the impact of stuttering on quality of life. Conclusions Data suggest that higher levels of self-kindness, mindfulness, and social connectedness (i.e., self-compassion) are related to reduced negative reactions to stuttering, an increased participation in daily communication situations, and an improved overall quality of life. Future research should replicate current findings and identify moderators of the self-compassion–quality of life relationship.


Author(s):  
Patrícia Rossini ◽  
Jennifer Stromer-Galley

Political conversation is at the heart of democratic societies, and it is an important precursor of political engagement. As society has become intertwined with the communication infrastructure of the Internet, we need to understand its uses and the implications of those uses for democracy. This chapter provides an overview of the core topics of scholarly concern around online citizen deliberation, focusing on three key areas of research: the standards of quality of communication and the normative stance on citizen deliberation online; the impact and importance of digital platforms in structuring political talk; and the differences between formal and informal political talk spaces. After providing a critical review of these three major areas of research, we outline directions for future research on online citizen deliberation.


Author(s):  
Audrey L. Michal ◽  
Yiwen Zhong ◽  
Priti Shah

AbstractToday’s citizens are expected to use evidence, frequently presented in the media, to inform decisions about health, behavior, and public policy. However, science misinformation is ubiquitous in the media, making it difficult to apply research appropriately. Across two experiments, we addressed how anecdotes and prior beliefs impact readers’ ability to both identify flawed science and make appropriate decisions based on flawed science in media articles. Each article described the results of flawed research on one of four educational interventions to improve learning (Experiment 1 included articles about having a tidy classroom and exercising while learning; Experiment 2 included articles about using virtual/augmented reality and napping at school). Experiment 1 tested the impact of a single anecdote and found no significant effect on either participants’ evidence evaluations or decisions to implement the learning interventions. However, participants were more likely to adopt the more plausible intervention (tidy classroom) despite identifying that it was unsupported by the evidence, suggesting effects of prior beliefs. In Experiment 2, we tested whether this intervention effect was driven by differences in beliefs about intervention plausibility and included two additional interventions (virtual reality = high plausible, napping = low plausible). We again found that participants were more likely to implement high plausible than low plausible interventions, and that evidence quality was underweighed as a factor in these decisions. Together, these studies suggest that evidence-based decisions are more strongly determined by prior beliefs than beliefs about the quality of evidence itself.


2021 ◽  
pp. 216747952199839
Author(s):  
Dustin Hahn

Evolving media landscapes toward increasingly diverse and competitive environments in both traditional and new media requires producers regularly examine the quality of their productions. One growing line of research identifies the increasing presence and significance of statistics in sports media programming. This experiment measures the effect of statistics on enjoyment and perceived credibility by sport consumers while considering level of fanship, media source, and variations in placement within Instagram posts. Results uncover evidence that validates previous observations about statistics in media while contradicting others. Specifically, findings reveal that statistics enhance enjoyment and improve perceived credibility. Observations were consistent across fanship level. However, additional findings also suggest media source and placement of statistics influences both enjoyment and credibility as well. For both dependent variables, statistics in both the Instagram caption and image yielded significantly greater enjoyment and credibility than some other conditions including posts without statistics at all. The impact of these and other findings on sports media industry and scholarship, along with limitations and directions for future research, are discussed.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. e051417
Author(s):  
Katie Seaborn ◽  
Mark Chignell ◽  
Jacek Gwizdka

IntroductionThe global COVID-19 pandemic continues to have wide-ranging implications for health, including psychological well-being. A growing corpus of research reviews has emerged on the topic of psychological resilience in the context of the pandemic. However, this body of work has not been systematically reviewed for its quality, nor with respect to findings on the effectiveness of tools and strategies for psychological resilience. To this end, a meta-review protocol is proposed with the following objectives: (1) identify review work on the topic of psychological resilience during COVID-19; (2) assess the quality of this review work using A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews; (3) assess the risk of bias in this work; (4) generate a narrative summary of the key points, strengths and weaknesses; (5) identify the psychological resilience strategies that have been reviewed; (6) identify how these strategies have been evaluated for their effectiveness; (7) identify what outcomes were measured and (8) summarise the findings on strategies for psychological resilience so far, providing recommendations, if possible.Methods and analysisA systematic meta-review will be conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews for Protocols and Joanna Briggs Institute umbrella review guidelines. Electronic searches of general databases, especially Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed, will be conducted. Only results from January 2020 onwards will be considered, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic. Only results in English will be included. Descriptive statistics, thematic analysis and narrative summaries describing the nature of the reviewed work and evaluation of psychological resilience strategies will be carried out.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval is not needed for systematic review protocols. The results of the meta-review will be published in an international peer-reviewed journal. The raw and summarised data will be shared in the journal or other open venues.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42021235288.


2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackie Walumbe ◽  
Joletta Belton ◽  
Diarmuid Denneny

AbstractObjectivesDuring the current COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare has been transformed by the rapid switch from in person care to use of remote consulting, including video conferencing technology. Whilst much has been published on one-to-one video consultations, little literature exists on use of this technology to facilitate group interventions. Group pain management programmes are a core treatment provided by many pain services. This rapid review aimed to identify the extent of use of video conferencing technology for delivery of group pain management programmes and provide an overview of its use.MethodsA rapid review of the literature published up to April 2020 (PubMed, PsycINFO and PEDro) was performed. The search string consisted of three domains: pain/CP (MeSH term) AND Peer group[MeSH] AND Videoconferencing[MeSH]/Telemedicine[MeSH]/Remote Consultation[MeSH]. The studies were of poor methodological quality and study design, and interventions and chronic pain conditions were varied.ResultsLiterature searching yielded three eligible papers for this review. All studies had low methodological quality and risk of bias. Heterogeneity and variability in outcome reporting did not allow any pooling of data. The results demonstrated that videoconferencing for delivery of group programmes is possible, yet there is little extant literature on how to develop, deliver and measure outcomes of such programmes.ConclusionsThis review demonstrates that there is little evidence to support or guide the use of synchronous videoconferencing to deliver pain management programmes. We present issues to consider, informed by this review and our experience, when implementing video conferencing. Study quality of existing work is variable, and extensive future research is necessary.


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