Analysis of Cyberincivility in Posts by Health Professions Students: Descriptive Twitter Data Mining Study

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Medical Education
• Social Media in Healthcare

Background:

• Health professions students utilize social media for communication and information sharing.
• Twitter offers insights into students' sociocultural and learning needs but also exhibits cyberincivility.
• Cyberincivility encompasses disrespectful or disruptive online behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize cyberincivility among self-identified health professions students on Twitter.
• To analyze the prevalence and patterns of inappropriate or objectionable tweets.
• To identify differences in cyberincivility instances across student disciplines.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional descriptive Twitter data mining from August 2019 to February 2020.
• Analysis of user accounts self-identifying as health professions students.
• Quantitative (SAS 9.4) and qualitative (NVivo 12) data analysis.

Main Results:

• 30.2% of 639 analyzed student accounts exhibited cyberincivility.
• Nursing and medicine students comprised the majority of accounts with cyberincivility.
• Profanity, product promotion, and aggressive/biased comments were common forms of cyberincivility.

Conclusions:

• Cyberincivility is complex and requires a focus on mutual respect and collaboration.
• Student Twitter behavior provides insights into online conduct and digital professionalism.
• Guidance and training on maintaining a professional online persona are essential for students.